November 2009
- BRIs: Bagel Related Injuries inspire better bagel-cutting technology. [WSJ]
- Food Trends 2010: Fried chicken, mini whoopie pies, lamb, and more. [Epi-Log]
- Straining Ladle: Finally, a ladle that can also strain. [IncredibleThings]
- Chestnut Issues: How do you roast them so they're easy to peel? [Metafilter]
- Foodie Bookies: Some favorite cookbooks of the year. [SanFranChronicle]
- Faux-Meat: Scientists in the Netherlands use pig cells to make "pork." [TO]
- Urban Chickens: Photos of the little cluckers in Bay Area backyards. [GOOD]
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 30, 2009 at 5:15 PM
With all the channels on broadcast TV and cable--and the inevitable episode repeats--it's hard to sort out what's new or worthwhile. Let us sort it out for you so you don't miss anything worth watching. Times may vary with region; check your local listings for exact hour and channels.
Monday (November 30)
Good Eats (warning, a video plays automatically on site): "Twas' The Night Before Good Eats." A dark holiday night finds Alton Brown visited by a series of culinary spirits which drive him to prepare long lost yuletide classics. 8 p.m. ET, Food Network
Cake Boss: "Candy, Crash & Crisis." Buddy and company are asked to make a cake for Dylan's Candy Bar. 10 p.m. ET, TLC
Cake Boss: "Robots, Rollerskates, and Relatives." Buddy channels his inner hacker when he's asked to create a moving robot cake. He also has to make a 1970s themed-rollerskate cake and deliver it on skates! 10:30 p.m. ET, TLC
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (warning, a video plays automatically on site): "Comfort Food." Guy goes to a a Baltimore cafe with an impressive variety of French toast, a third-generation family eatery in San Antonio, a bakery-turned-restaurant in south Florida and a West Virginia cafe with homemade cornbread. (repeat) 10 p.m. ET, Food Network
Chef Academy: "Basic Training." Chef Novelli shows his enrollees how to cook risotto, enhanced with his grandmother's full-flavored tomato sauce. The students must then replicate the recipe—but not before a classroom disruption results in one student's dismissal.11 p.m. ET, BRAVO
Jimmy Kimmel Live! (warning, a video plays automatically on site): Chef David Chang is a guest. (repeat) 12:05 a.m. ET, ABC
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Cook the Book: Good Eats: The Early Years: JoeAd, tuhud, jkiller5150, dtgville, and sar_t. Winners have been notified by email and also appear on our Contest Winners page. Thanks to all who entered.
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, November 30, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Every day through January 3 we're giving away a crazy good food item on Serious Eats. Try your luck, and if you win, you'll be eating some seriously delicious food come the new year.
When winter draws near, I start thinking about sausage. (Actually, I think about sausage year-round.) About the best, juiciest, meatiest, just-smoky-enough sausage I know is the sausage the Bracewell family makes and serves at their phenomenal Texas barbecue joint the Southside Market. The Bracewells are a generously spirited bunch, so they've given us ten pound packages of their incomparable sausage to give away as part of the Seriously Delicious Holiday Giveaway. Win and you can have your very own Texas barbecue sausage holiday party. Doesn't that sound good? —Ed Levine
To enter: Tell us what your favorite barbecue joint is.
You have until 3 p.m. ET tomorrow (December 1) to enter. One winner will be chosen at random from among the commenters. Contest winners are limited to residents of the continental U.S., and you can only win once during the duration of the Seriously Delicious Holiday Giveaway contest. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Comments are Closed.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 30, 2009 at 1:35 PM
[Flickr: Gary Soup]
Name: Roli Roti
Vendor-rotisseur: Thomas Odermatt
Twitter: @RoliRoti
Location and hours? 27 farmers' markets in Northern California (check out the schedule here) from San Jose to Sausalito to Davis.
[Flickr: mercedesfromtheeighties]
What's on the menu? Gourmet rotisserie meats such as free-range chickens, heritage pork (made into porchetta sandwiches), and lamb.
How long have you been street fooding? RoliRoti started in 2002, but Thomas has been grilling meats for much longer. It all started back in his family's butcher shop in the Swiss Alps where his father Otto taught him the secrets of beautifully grilled rotisserie meats. When he arrived in Berkeley, California, Thomas was taken with the local gourmet food movement but found that the typical American flate-grate grilling approach left meats dry and tough. And so, the mobile rotisserie grill company RoliRoti was born.
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Posted by Caroline Russock, November 30, 2009 at 12:45 PM
Hold on to your sweet tooth and stock up on butter because here at Cook the Book, we are going to feature a cookie recipe everyday for the entire month of December. This month is going to be a veritable cookie-copia of every type of cookie imaginable to help you get into the holiday spirit in the sweetest possible way.
Our compendium of cookies begins with The Art and Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet. The Art and Soul of Baking is put together by the folks from Sur la Table, a national chain of cookware stores that's nearly impossible to visit without experiencing a very serious case of "I absolutely need every single thing in here."
The same feeling of desire will hit you when perusing the pages of this book. Mushet is an accomplished pastry chef whose writing style is both informative and engaging. Her baking lessons will help even the greenest of bakers understand not only how to make wonderful desserts but help you understand why they taste so good.
The Art and Soul of Baking begins with the most comprehensive guide to ingredients, equipment, and technique that I've seen in any baking book. Leavening agents to luster dust, if an ingredient has any place in baking chances are Mushet has included a few very helpful paragraphs about it.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 30, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Fooditude is an upcoming food show for kids that covers cooking and nutrition, food science, environmental stewardship, culture and history, and gardening, with the purpose of empowering kids to eat more healthily. Here's an overview of what's to come. Watch the video after the jump.
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Two-thirds of fresh whole broiler chickens tested by Consumer Reports in 22 states contained salmonella and/or campylobacter bacteria, the magazine reports. Air-chilled organic birds (especially store-brand birds) fared best. Among name brands, Perdue's were cleanest while 80 percent of Tyson and Foster Farms chix registered for one or both pathogens. [via Civil Eats]
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 30, 2009 at 7:30 AM
Fleisher's Grass-fed and Organic Meats is known for many things: outrageously delicious pasture-raised meats, funny facial hair (Fleisher's master butcher Joshua Applestone has a pretty great 'stache), and sassy tees (T-shirts that is, not T-bones).
This year the Serious Eats team and Fleisher's have joined forces to choose the latest in this ever-growing collection of meat-themed shirts.
We already have some great ones—the perennial favorites "Bacon, The Gateway Meat," "Juicy Loins, Tender Rumps," "Fresh Meat"; the classic "You Can't Beat Our Meat"; the political "Think Globally, Meat Locally"; and last year's winner, "Live and Loin." (All of them are available on Zazzle.)
The winner will be awarded a $100 gift certificate to Fleisher's Meats and, of course, a T-shirt. To enter to win, just leave your best tagline as a comment here. Fleisher's is looking for sassy, salacious, political, and funny—so hit us with your best shot. A selection of judges from Serious Eats and Fleisher's Meats will select the winner.
Comments for this entry will be open until 3 p.m. ET on Monday, December 21. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Comments are Closed.
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Posted by Carey Jones, November 29, 2009 at 5:00 PM
[Photo: Robyn Lee]
Now that you've digested your Thanksgiving dinner (we hope), let's all take a moment to pat ourselves on the back. We spend so much time preparing for holidays that we rarely stop to celebrate all we do.
For my brother, the biggest Thanksgiving victory was turning his home office into a gorgeous dining room fit for a feast. For Ed, it may have been sticking to his serious diet and breaking even at his incredibly brave weigh-in the day after Thanksgiving. For me? I made a vegan stuffing (fine, dressing) that was not only edible, but absolutely delicious—even the non-vegans had seconds.
What about you? What are you most proud of this Thanksgiving?
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Posted by Claire Sellers, November 29, 2009 at 1:00 PM
[Photo: Robin Bellinger]
Seriously Sweet: Cakespy might have created a masterpiece with this pumpkin pie in a chocolate chip cookie crust and a great buche de Thanksgiving.
The Nasty Bits: Turkey gizzards are extra-large and boast some truly delicious flavor. Chichi Wang offers three unique recipes that celebrate the turkey gizzard.
Soup for the Soul: Nick Kindelsperger knows how to whip up a fantastic dinner and makes a substitution for Hainanese chicken rice and rice soup with ginger dipping sauce
Healthy and Delicious: Kristen Swensson combines sweet and savory flavors in a sausage, apple, and cranberry stuffing that is perfect for the season, even after Thanksgiving.
Brunch Time: After eating for a week at Thanksgiving dinner, start off the day with a healthy brunch—baked eggs with spinach.
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Posted by Claire Sellers, November 28, 2009 at 6:00 PM
Peace in Tribeca: Peace and love aren't enough to win over Kathy YL Chan, who didn't love lunch at the Peace & Love Cafe in Tribeca,
Urban Burger: Damon Gambuto takes a bite out of California's Farm Stand's burgers. Massive and high quality patties are a plus, but he wishes this version of the American classic was "a little more suburban."
Brooklyn Bites: Spicy fried chicken wings, grilled Spanish octopus and Serrano ham croquets at Brooklyn's The Vanderbilt, Michelin-starred chef Saul Bolton's latest project.
Shipwrecked Burgers: Just in time for your island getaway, blogger BurgerConquest reveals the pirate's booty of burgers at Shipwreck in Charlotte Amelie, St. Thomas (US Virgin Islands).
Pizza Perfection: Daniel Zemans discovers "addictive" pizza pies at Labriola Bakery Cafe in Oak Brook, Illinois.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, November 28, 2009 at 4:00 PM
[Photographs: Lucy Baker]
After the pomp and circumstance of Thanksgiving—the colossal turkey, the countless pies, the fancy china that must be hand-washed—it's nice to enjoy a relaxed meal or two in front of the TV with a plate on your lap and your feet on the coffee table. What could be better than watching the game with a big bowl of chili, or a pile of nachos smothered in seven-layer dip? All that spicy beef and gooey cheese calls for a hearty bread for sopping, crumbling, and wiping plates clean, so this week I tested out Trader Joe's Beer Bread Mix ($1.99). It's the stuff of Homer Simpson's dreams.
The first step was choosing the right beer. I recalled reading an article on beer bread in Cook's Country magazine that suggested using a light, American-style lager like Budweiser. I considered this, but decided that I wanted something a bit bolder. I wasn't just using the beer to leaven to bread; I wanted to be able to taste the malt. My next thought was to use a very dark beer, like a Guinness or a stout, which is a common ingredient in many gingerbread recipes. But this wasn't dessert; I wanted a savory loaf that would pair well with soups and meaty main dishes. Finally, I settled on Dale's Pale Ale, which is a medium-hopped IPA from Colorado. I thought it would be flavorful but not overpowering.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 28, 2009 at 2:00 PM
As usual, cats eating food is much more compelling than humans eating food. In this video, Rich Juzwiak's cats Winston and Rudy attack a cup of yogurt. Watch the video after the jump.
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Posted by Claire Sellers, November 28, 2009 at 10:00 AM
[Photograph: pin add on Flickr]
In season throughout the winter, parsnips are a root vegetable closely related to the carrot by family and appearance—but the parsnip has a pale color and a sweet, nutty flavor. Parnips were first cultivated in Eurasia during ancient times and are often used in dishes with other root vegetables today.
Parnsip recipes, tips, and info after the jump.
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Posted by Hawk Krall, November 27, 2009 at 2:00 PM
"Thanksgiving dinner on a hot dog bun."
[Original artwork: Hawk Krall]
I've been racking my brain, trying to come up with a Thanksgiving-related Hot Dog of the Week, hoping that someone somewhere had concocted a seasonal haute dog. Maybe venison sausage with pumpkin aioli or Kobe beef corn dogs with cranberry dipping sauce?
Then a vision of a dog piled high with classic Thanksgiving sides materialized in my mind. "Wow, that would be amazing if somebody did that, ha," I thought to myself. Turns out Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace in Columbus, Ohio, did.
I wrote about Dirty Frank's earlier this year soon after they opened. Owner Liz Lessner has four restaurants in the Columbus area, all proudly serving Ohio comfort food (and all open for Thanksgiving). For Dirty Frank's first Turkey Day, they whipped up a wild Thanksgiving Dog. I was expecting maybe turkey chili and cranberry relish, but this is the real deal: a turkey frank piled high with stuffing and a big scoop of fluffy mashed potatoes, dripping with gravy and cranberry sauce on the side. Thanksgiving dinner on a hot dog bun.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 27, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Did you store your Thanksgiving leftovers correctly? Shoving a giant pile of turkey, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce into your fridge isn't correct. Chow has some tips on how to make sure it doesn't look like Thanksgiving exploded in your fridge: put different dishes in different containers. Hopefully you knew that already. Watch the video after the jump.
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Posted by Ed Levine, November 27, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Am I brave or just stupid?
At the Serious Eats staff meeting this week, I announced that I was going to post about my diet on Thanksgiving Day instead of today, Friday, the day after, for obvious reasons. My pronouncement was met by derisive snorts and laughter. Everyone here at HQ knew I didn't want to face Thinner and all of you the day after Turkey Day, also known as Serious Dieter Armageddon.
But I am going to show all the HQ dwellers that when it comes to facing down what can only be described as public humiliation of the worst sort, I am not afraid. Serious eaters, I come before you and Thinner and my maker the day after Thanksgiving hoping upon hope that all will not be lost when I get on Thinner.
I was in decent shape leading up to Turkey Day. On Thursday morning I was at 219.
My plan: have a light breakfast and no pre-Thanksgiving-meal-snacking-while-standing-up. It's the pre-meal snacks, as well as the cook's tastes, that kill me in the aggregate. Spoonful of buttery, creamy, mashed potatoes, anyone?
I successfully executed my plan but with five pies staring me in the face (I would have gotten more, but my wife put the kibosh on further pie profligacy), my diet was set to be in a world of hurt come this morning.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 27, 2009 at 9:00 AM
[Flickr: brooklyn]
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 26, 2009 at 4:00 PM
[Photographs: Leftover Art]
Play with the dregs of turkey and mashed potato on your plate and submit a photo of the results to Leftover Art, a website dedicated to artfully arranged leftovers. Users can vote on where they think the art belongs: in the trash or the fridge. I'm rooting for "Root McGoot."
Related
What to Make with Leftover Bread
What Are World-Famous Chefs Doing with Your Leftovers?
A Guide to Leftover Thanksgiving Recipes
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Posted by Leslie Kelly, November 26, 2009 at 12:00 PM
[Illustration: Robyn Lee]
[Photograph: Leslie Kelly]
Today, I am so grateful for the legions of men and women who are working in professional kitchens. While the rest of us are at home with friends and family, sipping on an adult beverage (make mine a Sea Breeze, please) and waiting on that turkey, millions of professional cooks will be working their tails off. That's life on the line, right? So many things "civilians" take for granted are part of the routine in the restaurant business. Like working nights and weekends and having split days off.
Adam Stevenson, the chef at Earth & Ocean at the W Hotel in Seattle, can't remember the last holiday he had off. Scheduling can be a nightmare. "I ask everyone to let me know which two of the three big holidays they want to work," he said.
I'm doing a cool charcuterie project with Adam. We're making lomo and coppa from pork pieces he broke down from a whole beast (like the one pictured—more about that in a future post.) When I was in Earth & Ocean's kitchen earlier this week, the staff was already working on putting together the pieces of the traditional meal. Adam said it's not a big deal to work Thanksgiving: "My wife and I don't really celebrate the holidays." He does take off the first week of each year, though.
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Posted by Ed Levine, November 26, 2009 at 9:00 AM
©iStockPhoto.com/JerryPDX
While the Serious Eats crew has been tirelessly toiling to bring you all the delicious, entertaining, and newsworthy Thanksgiving morsels (it's actually been way more fun than toil) we could come up with, we wanted to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a happy Thanksgiving.
May your Turkey Day be filled with lots of seriously delicious food, good wine, and the sounds of friends and family enjoying each others' company.
Here at Serious Eats HQ we have lots to give thanks for: a fantastic, supportive community; the opportunity to share our discoveries with all of you; and the chance to eavesdrop and participate in the most passionate, discerning, and inclusive food conversations on the web.
And as Serious Eats Overlord I am seriously thankful for the tireless efforts of everyone here at World HQ; Adam, Alaina, Carey, Erin, and Robyn are the best crew I could hope to have. I also give thanks every day for our amazing contributors from around the country and the world.
Happy Thanksgiving, serious eaters, wherever you are.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 25, 2009 at 6:00 PM
[Photograph: Jason Reed/Reuters at Christian Science Monitor]
Today, President Obama and his family pardoned a turkey named Courage to live the rest of its life in Disneyland, reports The Washington Post. Presidential turkey pardonings were first made official 20 years ago with President George H.W. Bush, although turkeys and U.S. presidents have shared the spotlight before then. The Christian Science Monitor has more about the history of the turkey-pardoning tradition.
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Posted by Caroline Russock, November 25, 2009 at 5:30 PM
[Flickr: riptheskull]
Last week we asked you to break down your Thanksgiving pregame plans for our Weekend Cook and Tell Challenge. We wanted to know what all of you were doing to save time and valuable stove and oven space. Here are some of the responses we are the most thankful for:
10956bbq spent the days leading up to Thanksgiving eating the fridge contents. Also, grabbing a drink at the kick-off of the first football game will make things run smoothly.
avaryne has a few tricks for alleviating the stress of cooking for a crowd: helpful in-laws and a keg of beer.
terplinz's sister-in-law hosts Thanksgiving and sends out an email to all of her guests with a set of rules (to ward off potential kitchen chaos). Rule number one: Only the sister-in-law can use the stove.
TheKitchenWitch is not a fan of Thanksgiving. This year her family will forgo turkey in favor of an Asian feast.
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Posted by Ed Levine, November 25, 2009 at 4:15 PM
[From left: ©iStockphoto.com/YinYang and ©iStockphoto.com/luxcreative]
If you're in Thanksgiving side dish panic mode, you can relax now. Trust me.
I was there myself yesterday. Until it came to me in a seriously delicious dream: Chef, barbeculogist, and cookbook author Adam Perry Lang used to send over these amazing sweet potatoes along with his incredible smoked short ribs. But he would never give me the recipe, no matter how many times I asked.
Fast forward to yesterday. We had posted a bunch of recipes from Lang's book Serious Barbecue (yes, we do love the name here at HQ), but somehow I had never thought of looking in the book for his magical sweet potato recipe. Until now.
The recipe is there, in living color, and now it's here, ready to be made by Serious Eaters everywhere looking for that one seriously delicious sweet potato recipe to complete their Turkey Day repast. I promise that should you decide to make these, everybody who eats them will be seriously happy the moment the first forkful hits their taste buds.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 25, 2009 at 3:30 PM
Since Thanksgiving Eve can be fraught with stress, here are ten links to keep you in good spirits. From Coolio to Tofurky soda to Calvin Trillin's fight for spaghetti carbonara to replace turkey, we bring you some Thanksgiving giggles.
Photo of the Day: Turkey Cakes: Like real turkeys, turkey cakes also give you the option of white and dark "meat."
Video: Coolio Makes Deep-Fried Turkey: What is rap star (and now cookbook author) Coolio's mantra for perfect turkey? The mo' injections, the merrier.
Thanksgiving Letter from a Control Freak: Be thankful you are not related to this person.
Jones Soda Debuts Tofurky and Gravy Flavor: This year Jones Soda came out with a limited edition vegetarian-friendly soda.
Video: Charlie Chaplin's Thanksgiving Meal: If a reincarnated Charlie Chaplin is your host tomorrow, don't be surprised if he serves you a stewed shoe.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 25, 2009 at 12:00 PM
If you don't know how to carve a turkey, let Alton Brown show you the way. Start by cutting off the breast, then move on to the drum sticks, wings, and thighs. And then make a sandwich. Watch the video after the jump.
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Need some tunes while you're chopping up sweet potatoes and roasting the bird? Check out NPR's Thanksgiving Mix where the hits include: "Quiche Lorraine" (The B-52s), Pass the Peas" (The JB's), "Country Pie" (Bob Dylan), "Savoy Truffle" (The Beatles), "She Don't Use Jelly" (The Flaming Lips), and more.
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Posted by Lee Zalben, November 25, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Note: Lee Zalben, a.k.a. "the Peanut Butter Guy" is the creator of the Peanut Butter & Co., a New York sandwich shop with a national line of nut butters. Every week he'll chime in with some nuttiness.
[Photographs: Lee Zalben]
While I was in Alba for the White Truffle Festival this year (don't ask what The Peanut Butter Guy was doing at an Italian Truffle Festival), I had some time to indulge my sweet tooth with one of my favorite European confections. In Spain it's called turrón; in France it's called nougat; and in Italy it's called torrone (pronounced TUH-ro-nay).
Torrone is a soft nougat made from honey, sugar, egg whites, and roasted nuts. The nuts vary from region to region, but usually it's almonds. One of the best Italian Torrone makers is Sebaste, which uses nocciole or hazelnuts, which makes their torrone very special. Sebaste's factory happens to be located just outside of Alba.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 25, 2009 at 9:15 AM
To promote the film Inglourious Basterds (released back in August), Brad Pitt and Quentin Tarantino went on the Japanese cooking show Bistro SMAP. The Iron Chef-like segment, which is part of the variety show SMAPxSMAP, involves two chef teams competing to cook the best meal for the celebrity guest judges.
Though the host speaks Japanese the whole time, there are select subtitles and we get to hear Pitt and Tarantino's responses in English. They banter about how great Japanese anime is ("I have to buy another suitcase just to fit all my DVDs, toys, and other junk," said Tarantino) and food in general ("I can barely put together a bowl of cereal," said Pitt). In between answers, Tarantino neurotically slurps down his ice water and soba noodles, and gets teased for it, while Pitt paces himself through the meal. Watch the episode, after the jump.
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Posted by Andrea Lynn, November 25, 2009 at 8:00 AM
[Flickr: ReneS]
While this may look like any ordinary turkey, that's not the case. With a quick taste of the turkey meat, guests will discover it's actually a Habanero-Brined Roasted Turkey. Beware, only true chilehead families should tackle this recipe.
If you're still compiling your Thanksgiving menu, here's our chance to plug some of our favorite spicy holiday side dishes like creamy spinach heightened with roasted jalapenos and my personal favorite, honey-glazed buttery carrots mixed with crisp, spicy salami. Besides, why not add a little slice of spice to your holiday menu?
Habanero-Brined Roasted Turkey with Cranberry Kumquat Chutney »
Chile Roasted Corn Pudding »
Hot Salami Carrots »
Creamed Spinach with Roasted Jalapenos »
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 24, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Do you want these slimy things in your stuffing? [Photograph: Robyn Lee]
Whenever people talk about oyster stuffing, they seem to do one of those eye rolls reserved for foods that trigger insane amounts of pleasure. "Oohh, oyster stuuufffing." It's like you enter some exclusive food nerd club after trying it. As far as seasons go, it makes sense. Fall is prime oyster season (and sure, prime stuffing season too). According to Saveur the dish has roots in New England, though others credit the South.
What's all the fuss? Apparently the bread cubes soak up the oyster juices, which adds a little richness without making you feel like you swallowed the ocean. As a stuffing purist, I'm a little nervous to break away from my family's traditional herbs-bread-sausage route, but this take does sound intriguing.
Any oyster stuffing enthusiasts out there? Is it really that good? Good enough to ditch the classic mollusk-less recipe?
Related
Oyster stuffing....YUM! [Talk]
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 24, 2009 at 6:30 PM
In the first installment of Avec Alan, GQ's food critic Alan Richman introduces French chef Eric Ripert to the wonders and horrors of Costco. How does the fluorescent light-filled warehouse club make make Ripert feel? Not so good:
I am freaked out. Costco depresses me. I know everybody doesn't have the same opportunities I do to visit farm stands and little markets, but I will fight to the end for inspirational shopping. Costco doesn't even look like it belongs on our planet. It could be on the moon. It has no relationship to the outside world as I know it. The lighting, the temperature, the outrageous abundance. The store has no life and no contact with anything that comes from the earth. Everything is packaged, sterile, clinical. Nothing about the food is emotional. And there is a wicked genius at work, mixing the organic with the terribly processed.
On the upside, the meal Richman prepares with the ingredients they bought from Costco is excellent. Ripert praises the ingredients, and even approves of the triple-crème cheese, although he says, "It makes me sad it is from a store that terrifies me." Costco: it's both terrifying and impressive. Watch the video after the jump.
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- Michel Bras: Get to know this French culinary hero. [Salon]
- Super Sweet Tomato: The sugardrop tomato is as sweet as a peach. [Daily Mail]
- Skip Lunch: Their government says Italians take too long to eat. [ANSA]
- 50 Cent vs. Taco Bell: 50 Cent wins lawsuit claiming Taco Bell used his name and trademark without his authorization in their promotions. [NY Post]
- Post-Ham Paula: After getting hit in the head by a ham, she's doing fine. [Extra]
- Turkey Boot Camp: What it's like to be an operator on Butterball's hot line. [AP]
- How to Cook a Turkey on Your Car's Engine: Assuming that you're going to be driving for four hours. [USA Today]
- Digestives: Recommended liquers for a bloated T-day belly. [NYT]
- Turkey Cakes Gone Wrong: A two-part series from Cake Wrecks: one and two.
- Turkey-Shaped Foods: Bread, Jell-O, cakes, and more. [New Yorker]
- Pumpkins, the Greek Way: A collection of Greek pumpkin recipes. [AFC]
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 24, 2009 at 5:00 PM
[Photograph: Joanna Miller, The Kitchn]
For those rare times you don't have your waders handy, this self-service cranberry bog is pretty convenient. The scoopable cranberries were spotted at the Bloomingfoods Market and Deli, a co-op in Bloomington, Indiana. Potential sanitary issues aside, can more markets please do this?
Related
In Season: Cranberries
Meet Your Farmers: Adrienne Kravitz, a Cranberry Farmer in Southeastern Mass.
Cranberry Sauce With Champagne and Currants
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Posted by glutenfreegirl, November 24, 2009 at 3:30 PM
[Shauna James Ahern]
As I sat at the computer, trying to wrestle a sentence to the ground, my husband came in the room. From behind me, he said, "Close your eyes."
Of course.
I felt him move up behind me, his breath on my neck. "Open your mouth."
Like a baby bird, waiting, I opened. He put a paste on my tongue, fragrant and unknown to me. A little ginger, some coconut, maybe vanilla? I like these games we play—guess the taste. What new baking combination had he created?
"What is it? Something for the cookies?" I said as I opened my eyes.
He smiled at me. "It's palm sugar."
"What? That's sugar? It's not a bunch of foods together? All that taste in one ingredient?"
I got up from the computer and moved with him to the kitchen.
"Let's play."
Palm sugar is nothing like the sugar in the pink and white bag, or the fluff of powdered sugar we sift over pancakes, or the molasses-drenched brown sugar for holiday baking. It is singular, far more complex in flavor than any sweetener I have ever tasted.
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Posted by tressa eaton, November 24, 2009 at 2:00 PM
[Flickr: xybermatthew]
It might be too late to snag a Heritage turkey this year, but there are still plenty of last minute things you can do to make sure this year's Thanksgiving is your greenest yet.
1. Decorate with What What You've Got
[Flickr: StarMama]
Instead of investing in expensive, hothouse flowers that are shipped from around the globe, forage in your backyard for greenery, berries, and branches. Throw in some votive candles and some bright cloth (reusable!) napkins and you've got yourself a beautiful table.
More tips after the jump.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 24, 2009 at 12:45 PM
[Flickr: JP Puerta]
Vegetarianism doesn't have to stand in the way of eating a semi-traditional Thanksgiving meal. Environmental news magazine Grist taste tested four meatless "turkeys" to find the one that would most please a panel of vegetarians, meat eaters, and picky children. Quorn Turk'y Roast is deemed most turkey-like, while the others—Tofurky Vegetarian Feast, Field Roast Celebration Roast, and Gardein Stuffed Turk'y Roast—fare from Chicken McNugget-esque to "tastes like rotten eggs."
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 24, 2009 at 12:00 PM
This holiday episode of No Reservations from 2007 is one of the show's few glimpses of Anthony Bourdain actually cooking in a kitchen. The key to moist turkey, according to Bourdain, is removing its legs ("dismembering a turkey is much like dismembering a human, actually...") and cooking them in a separate roasting pan from the breast. For health reasons, he also supports cooking the stuffing outside of the bird ("you got bacterias going at it like your parents did at Woodstock"). His last tip: do not get garlic anywhere near the turkey. Unless you want to ruin everything. Watch the video after the jump.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 24, 2009 at 7:30 AM
[Eating The Road]
After making this fast food flowchart, Eating The Road has made another humorous flowchart to help you choose what cereal to start your day with. There's something for everyone, from Marty McFly, to the cereal lover who is immune to diabetes.
Related
Cereal Taxonomy
Video: The Cereal Sifter
The Cereal Project, an Online Database of U.S. Cereals
Hungry? How About Bacon?
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 23, 2009 at 7:00 PM
[Flickr: kinaskeeper]
The kitchen real estate is precious on Thanksgiving. Most of us just have one oven and four burners, so it becomes a real juggle fest trying to keep all the sides warm, especially when the bird is hogging up the heat for hours. What's your strategy?
Related
T-day Menu Challenge: Give Me a Timeline! [Talk]
Ten Turkey Tips You'll Be Thankful For
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 23, 2009 at 6:30 PM
[Photograph: Cakespy]
Our goddess of sweets, Jessie Oleson, aka Cakespy, spotted these festive turkey cakes at Madison Park Bakery in Seattle. Like real turkeys, you can choose between white and dark "meat."
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Video: Big Top Cupcake Informercial
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- Salon Food: Francis Lam, formerly of Gourmet, is behind the new site. [Salon]
- Another Moosewood Cookbook: From the famous vegetarian eatery in Ithaca, New York, this book is "slicker, more comprehensive and...healthier." [NYT]
- Safety First: Join Consumer Reports tomorrow at 1 p.m. to get tips on how to avoid stitches and fire alarms this week. [Consumer Reports]
- Spoiler Alert: The second season winner of The Next Iron Chef. [LAT]
- Butter Wisdom Freeze it before making pie. [YumSugar]
- Cajun Style Turkey: Deep fry the bird with this New Orleans twist. [Buck Cooks]
- Craving Comfort: Chef Art Smith has a new TLC show. [Chicago Grub Street]
- TurkeyTimer: An iPhone app to prevent bird burnage. [IntoMobile]
- Wait, It's Thanksgiving? More recipes. [San Francisco Chronicle]
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Posted by Gordon Mark, November 23, 2009 at 5:00 PM
With all the channels on broadcast TV and cable—and the inevitable episode repeat—-it's hard to sort out what's new or worthwhile. Let us sort it out for you so you don't miss anything worth watching. Times may vary with region; check your local listings for exact hour and channels.
Monday (November 23)
Good Eats: "The Proof Is In the Pudding." Alton takes a look at the use of alcohol in preparing food. 8 p.m. ET, Food Network
Cake Boss: "Pizza, Poochies & Pop-in-Law." Buddy makes a cake for a local animal shelter and challenges his father-in-law to a pizza-making contest. 10 p.m. ET, TLC
Cake Boss: "Golf Greens & Gravity." Buddy and his crew make a cake for a planetarium and a cake for a golf tournament. 10:30 p.m. ET, TLC
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (warning, a video plays automatically on site): "Burgers, Steaks and Chops." Guy goes to a dive bar making high end dishes in San Francisco; a place serving piles of burgers in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and a restaurant grilling house-cut steaks in Kemah, Texas. 10 p.m. ET, Food Network
Chef Academy: "Bitter Sweet." The students are challenged to recreate one of the desserts demonstrated by chef Novelli. 11 p.m. ET, BRAVO
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Cook the Book: Simple Fresh Southern: Rebecca F., NOLA_Pam, rsgrandinetti, themotorcyclechef, and Cupcake819. Winners have been notified by email and also appear on our Contest Winners page. Thanks to all who entered.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 23, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Note: It's time for another edition of Street Food Profiles. This week we scoot to Seattle for Hawaiian-Korean curbside cuisine.
[Photograph: Andrea J. Walker]
Name: Marination Mobile
Vendors: Kamala Saxton and Roz Edison
Twitter: @curb_cuisine
Location and hours: Roaming the streets of Seattle six days a week. Equal opportunity neighborhood dwelling. Typically open 11a.m. to 2 p.m. The changing locations are posted on our website.
Kimchi rice bowl. [Food photographs: Marination Mobile]
What's on the menu? Tacos (spicy pork, kalbi beef, "sexy" tofu, and miso ginger chicken), Aloha sliders (made with Hawaiian-style braised pork on a sweet bun), kimchi fried rice (served with a sunny-side up egg), and things involving Spam (like Spam sliders and Spam musubi). We regularly throw in specials too. We give away love for free.
How long have you been street fooding? So far just 4.89 months. To infinity and beyond!
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Posted by Caroline Russock, November 23, 2009 at 12:30 PM
As far as television food personalities go, Alton Brown is the perfect combination of wacky mad scientist, comedian, and food nerd extraordinaire.
Way back in 1998, Brown aired the first episode of Good Eats on a Chicago PBS station. In Brown's own words, Good Eats set out to be a combination of Julia Child's kitchen chops, Mr. Wizard-style accessible science, and Monty Python's unique brand of silliness. Knowing a good thing when they saw one, Food Network picked up the show a year later Good Eats is now well into its thirteenth season.
With more than 200 episodes of the show under his belt, Brown has recently released Good Eats: The Early Years, a massive tome that includes all of the recipes from the first 80(!) episodes of Good Eats.
The first season covered basics, correct steak cooking procedures (Steak Your Claim), proper potatoes (This Spud's for You), and baking techniques (The Dough Also Rises, shot with the help of Brown's grandmother). That first season also gave birth to one of my favorite Good Eats traditions: the Thanksgiving episode.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 23, 2009 at 11:45 AM
Why do people eat cinnamon, glue, live bugs, and light bulbs on camera? To get famous! Even if they look really stupid. Really. Really. Stupid. In Current TV's latest segment of Viral Video Film School, host Brett Elrich rounds up some of the most baffling videos on the web of people eating weird things. It'll make you feel worse about humanity, but better about yourself. Unless you too like to eat fragile objects made of glass. Watch the video after the jump.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 23, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Elise Bauer. [Photograph: Ree Drummond]
Mama Bauer's turkey stuffing. [Photograph: Elise Bauer]
We are longtime fans of the recipes and want-to-eat-the-computer-screen photography by Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes. She took the time to chat with us about her Thanksgiving plans this year—which will, absolutely not, involve the green bean casserole with fried onions.
Where are you feasting? At my mom and dad's house in Carmichael, California, with all of my siblings—there are six of us kids. We like to keep it really simple. Thanksgiving is not a time for experimentation. There's enough chaos and stress with all the family showing up, we want the actual meal to be as easy as possible.
What's on the menu? Any family recipes that reappear every year? My grandmother's stuffing recipe. She wasn't known for her cooking but she did a few things right. This one we do every year. We call it "stuffing" even though we prepare ours in a separate casserole pan—it's easier and safer that way. To get the turkey flavor, we use stock from the giblets and one of the secret ingredients? Olives.
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Posted by tressa eaton, November 23, 2009 at 8:30 AM
Note: This week in Meet Your Farmers we meet KayCee Wimbish and Owen O'Connor two young (and awesome) farmers who are part of a blossoming organic industry in the Hudson Valley.
Name: KayCee Wimbish and Owen O'Connor
Farm: Awesome Farm in Tivoli, New York.
How many acres? We currently lease 75 acres, but only use 30 intensively. The other 45 are for cutting hay and back-up grazing. We're looking for a new home base right now, so those numbers could change soon.
Your crew: We hired folks to help us slaughter chickens this year. Dana Gentile and our our friends Jeff Bonhag and Tracey Potter-Fins logged a lot of volunteer hours.
[Flickr: mizzell]
What you grow: Grass and animals. We've done sheep and chickens (laying chickens and meat chickens). From here on out we are concentrating on sheep and cattle.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 23, 2009 at 7:30 AM
Soon this will be in your belly. ©iStockphoto.com/MentalArt
This is it, people. Only a few days left until the big T-day. To get you in the mood, here are some fun facts from Factcheck.org, a site from the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center.
- Minnesota is expected to be the top turkey-producing state in 2009, raising 45.5 million of the Thanksgiving bird.
- Of the 709 million pounds of cranberries estimated to be produced in the U.S. in 2009, 400 million pounds will come from Wisconsin.
- The 2009 forecast for turkey sale receipts to farmers is $3.8 billion.
You can learn more, both Thanksgiving and non-Thanksgiving-related nuggets of information, from the site's Fact of the Day feature.
Related
Ten Turkey Tips You'll Be Thankful For
The Food Lab: Turkey Brining Basics
Taste Test: Store-Bought Stuffing
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Posted by Claire Sellers, November 22, 2009 at 5:00 PM
[Photo: Robyn Lee]
Downright Awful: The Serious Eats team usually doesn't waste your time writing about dining experiences that lack deliciousness. However, the lunch at Lucy's Cantina Royale was just too bad to keep a secret.
In A Pickle: Daniel Zemans investigates the cheeseburger pizza at the Fiocchi family Italian restaurant Nite N' Gale in Chicago.
Topping Overload: More isn't always better, especially in a burger, as
Damon Gambuto discovers at the The Oak Hills Gourmet Market in Los Angeles.
A Peachy Preview: The Momofuku Empire couldn't wait another second to open Má Pêche, so they set up camp with a makeshift room service-style restaurant at the Chambers Hotel in Midtown Manhattan until the highly anticipated opening in 2010.
Wild Wings: Nick Kindelsperger reports on the eats at Chicago's
Budacki's Drive-In, with pommes frites, cheesesteaks, and the real star are the delicious sriracha-buffalo chicken wings.
Obsessed With Offal: Chichi Wang heads over to Paradou in the Meatpacking District for the newly instated Wednesday night offal-intensive tasting menus which offers $40 for a 4-course prix fixe, available through the month.
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Posted by Claire Sellers, November 22, 2009 at 3:00 PM
[Photo: Kristen Swensson]
Free At Last: Pumpkin pie is one of the most essential Thanksgiving dishes. However, there is a whole other world of delicious pumpkin pie alternatives that deserve some attention, too.
Triple Treat: Cakespy never fails to produce utterly sensational sweet recipes, and this pumpkin-apple-pecan pie, which results in "the holy trinity of Thanksgiving pies" is a must try.
Time for Turkey: Amp up the moisture and flavor this Thanksgiving with this easy to follow "fool-proof" method on how to spatchcock a turkey.
Gimme Gumbo: Chichi Wang finds a unique and delicious recipe that utilizes the turkey neck—turkey neck gumbo—because "it always feels so rewarding to add another type of neck to one's repertoire of necks."
Not Sweet Anymore: The Crisper Whisperer helps sweet potatoes break free from usual the marshmallows and syrup in this great recipe for sweet potato salad with chili lime dressing.
Healthy and Delicious: Guacamole is indeed "the stuff of life," according to Kristen Swensson, and what better way to celebrate the avocado than in an awesome tomatillo guacamole.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 22, 2009 at 1:00 PM
Pho 14 in Washington, DC. [Flickr: Mr. T in DC]
Once you get past the pronunciation of phở ("fuh" instead of "foe"), the next question might be, why the obsession with numbers? What does the delicious Vietnamese brothy soup (with rice noodles, bean sprouts, lime, heaps of cilantro, and usually some meat strips) have to do with numbers? This thread over on Reddit.com clears it up:
Oftentimes they're lucky numbers. "In some Asian cultures, eight is associated with wealth or prosperity. Repetition is considered desirable (Olympics started 8/8/08). Or to mark a date in Vietnamese history, or the owners' personal life." For example, Phở 67 could stand for 1967, the year the owner fled Vietnam during the war. The Phở 75s of the world are probably honoring 1975, the year Saigon fell.
Related
Phở Đuôi Bò (Vietnamese Noodle Soup with Oxtail)
How to Make Vietnamese Beef Broth, Part Two: The Phở-low Up
Phở Bo, An Unfussy Phở Recipe
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Posted by Colin Parent, November 21, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Note: Colin Parent has contributed reviews of burgers in San Diego for A Hamburger Today. Today he's taking a break from burgers to cover the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival.
[Photographs: Colin Parent]
Entering its sixth year, the 2009 San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival is an epic week-long (November 18 to 22) eating and drinking extravaganza. At least 19 events stretch over the five days, including a series of cooking and wine appreciation classes, wine-tasting parties, and the banner Grand Tasting Event.
The festival is the largest food and wine event in Southern California, with an anticipated 9,000 attendees, 170 wineries, and over 70 San Diego restaurants and chefs participating. The press fact sheet breaks things down to brass tacks: There will be over 800 different wines poured, totaling over 120,000 ounces over the week.
The climax of the festival, like most of these food and wine festivals, is The Grand Tasting Event, a parade of wine and food stations, celebrity chefs, and culinary competition. It's a four hour-long open bar in sunny San Diego, with some serious eats tossed in.
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, November 21, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Still don't have a turkey plan this year? Then we've got a contest for you. The good folks at D'Artagnan are providing us with a turkey a day to give away to one lucky Serious Eats reader from today until Sunday, November 22.*
D'Artagnan is a purveyor of many things delicious—from pâtés to sausages, foie gras to wild mushrooms, game meat to truffles. But right now we're especially interested in their turkeys.
D'Artagnan's certified organic birds are fed organic grains and pure spring water—no protein supplements, no added poultry or fish byproducts, no pesticides or herbicides, and no antibiotics or growth hormones. The result is a bird with great flavor, tenderness, and a 25 percent lower fat content than standard commercially raised turkeys.
We will be giving away 12- to 14-pound organic free-range birds for the duration of the contest. Contest is open only to participants in the continental U.S. Details after the jump.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 21, 2009 at 1:00 PM
From brioche ice cream sandwiches to duck tacos, the Los Angeles street food scene looks pretty darn tasty. A few friends decided to hop around the city with a camera and hit six popular trucks: Barbie's Q (barbecue), Lomo Arigato (Peruvian fusion), Little Spoon Desserts (aw, their Twitter account is @weliketospoon), Flying Pig (Asian-French fusion), Coolhaus (fancy ice cream sandwiches), and Kogi (Korean-Mexi fusion, and the only vendor that declined an interview here). The video, after the jump.
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Posted by Claire Sellers, November 21, 2009 at 11:00 AM
[Flickr: puamella]
At peak season from October through November, cranberries are a great way to bring in the holidays—with a vibrant hue and delicious tart sweetness, what's not to love? They can be enjoyed in a wide variety of dishes, whether fresh, frozen, or dried.
Cranberry recipes, tips, and info after the jump.
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Why is "dressing" more appropriate for [the dish] when baked in a casserole pan? The term "dressing" could be equally read to imply "to dress," as in it dresses something...Just as the bird is stuffed with it, the bird is dressed (up) with it. —Lorenzo
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- Scrudle: A utensil designed to scrape and scoop every last morsel. [Independent]
- GQ's Chef of the Year: And the award goes to D.C.-hailing Jose Andres. [GQ]
- Dunkin' on West Coast: If this Boston-themed bar in Santa Monica gets enough orders, they'll drive in the donuts from Vegas. [LA Snark]
- Caviar Sandwiches? The Subway chain looks to open 1,000 more outlets in Russia by 2015. [Reuters]
- Popular Demand (Popeye's): The new music video from Clipse about hanging outside of Obama Fried Chicken, not Popeye's. [Brokelyn]
- Bye, Oprah! Cocktail: To salute 25 years on air, guzzle this down. [VanityFair]
- Martha vs. Rachael: Her style is "not good enough," said Stewart of Ray. [HP]
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Posted by Gordon Mark, November 20, 2009 at 5:00 PM
With all the channels on broadcast TV and cable—and the inevitable episode repeats—it's hard to sort out what's new or worthwhile. Let us sort it out for you so you don't miss anything worth watching. Times and episodes may vary with region (especially PBS shows); check your local listings for exact hour and channels.
Saturday (November 21)
Secrets of a Restaurant Chef (warning, a video plays automatically on site): "The Secret to Pork Loin." Pork tenderloin; homemade applesauce; warm cabbage slaw. (repeat) 10:30 a.m. ET, Food Network
5 Ingredient Fix: "Impress the In-Laws." Claire makes rosemary pork tenderloin, cheesy penne, nutty greens with bacon and blue cheese, and simple pineapple sherbet for her in-laws. (repeat) 12:30 a.m. ET, Food Network
Giada at Home (warning, a video plays automatically on site): "A Family Thanksgiving." Giada serves Thanksgiving dinner with a few twists. (repeat) 1 p.m. ET, Food Network
Barefoot Contessa (warning, a video plays automatically on site): "Thanksgiving Countdown." Holiday meals recipes for herb roasted turkey breast, sausage and herb stuffing, homemade gravy, and celery root and apple puree. (repeat) 1:30 p.m. ET, Food Network
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Though the pumpkin crop wasn't so hot this year and some have flipped about a potentially apocalyptic canned pumpkin shortage, Whole Foods says settle down. According to an email from a PR representative we just received, the store has plenty of their Whole Foods Market 365 canned pumpkin in stock, in fact more than normal. The organic pumpkin crop didn't hurt as badly since it didn't face the same issues with fungus and mold. But if you still can't find the orange stuff, here are some pumpkin pie alternatives.
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Posted by Hawk Krall, November 20, 2009 at 3:30 PM
"Take two of the best classic deli sandwiches and combine them."
[Original artwork and photographs: Hawk Krall]
Kosher hot dogs have always been a staple of New York delicatessens. It was only a matter of time before a deli man or two decided to pile some of that delicious pastrami on top of a frankfurter. The components are pretty self explanatory: all-beef kosher hot dog piled high with good, moist pastrami, on a poppy seed bun, maybe garnished with a squirt of deli mustard.
I found one here in Philadelphia at Famous 4th Street Deli, probably our most well-known classic delicatessen. My Pastrami Dog came with at least half a pound of pastrami piled on top. I made it all the way through without a knife and fork, which wasn't easy, but well worth it.
At first glance the Pastrami Dog doesn't look too different from other meat-on-meat atrocities. But it makes more culinary sense, almost a no-brainer. Take two of the best classic deli sandwiches and combine them.
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, November 20, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Still don't have a turkey plan this year? Then we've got a contest for you. The good folks at D'Artagnan are providing us with a turkey a day to give away to one lucky Serious Eats reader from today until Sunday, November 22.*
D'Artagnan is a purveyor of many things delicious—from pâtés to sausages, foie gras to wild mushrooms, game meat to truffles. But right now we're especially interested in their turkeys.
D'Artagnan's certified organic birds are fed organic grains and pure spring water—no protein supplements, no added poultry or fish byproducts, no pesticides or herbicides, and no antibiotics or growth hormones. The result is a bird with great flavor, tenderness, and a 25 percent lower fat content than standard commercially raised turkeys.
We will be giving away 12- to 14-pound organic free-range birds for the duration of the contest. Contest is open only to participants in the continental U.S. Details after the jump.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, November 20, 2009 at 2:15 PM
There's so much going on in Talk week to week that we almost can't keep up. If you're in the same boat, here's a small selection of topics and responses that have piqued our interest this week.
©iStockphoto.com/wolfephoto
"Letting your roux get darker than blond will make your gravy even tastier. I admit to an irrational prejudice against pale gravy. To me, good gravy is a deep, dark brown." —RegrettableFoodie
"This post has just inspired me to reorganize my spices...." —yayfood
"...And ever since I hit 40, If someone asks me for my ID when I order a drink, it's an automatic 25% tip...." —CatBoy
"What in the hell is Thxgiving? Is it pronounced "thicksgiving"? If I had to guess, I would say that it must be fat people giving stuff away." —olddad
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 20, 2009 at 12:15 PM
What is rap star (and now cookbook author) Coolio's mantra for perfect turkey? "The mo' injections, the merrier." He recommends botoxing your bird with a syringe filled with tequila, diced garlic, "regular Italian dressing," a dollop-uh (the Coolio pronunciation of dollop) of honey, balsamic vinegar, pepper (measured in dime bags not teaspoons), soy sauce, and few other pantry items.
After plumping up the bird ("It went from a B-cup to a D-cup!") Coolio throws it into the deep-fryer. But he warns, and this video is just full of life wisdom, do not fry the bird indoors. You will burn down your house and have to buy a new one. Watch the video, after the jump.
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Posted by Kerry Saretsky, November 20, 2009 at 11:30 AM
Note: This month's Secret Ingredient is the anchovy. Take it away, Kerry!
[Photographs: Kerry Saretsky]
There seems to be so much misunderstanding surrounding the anchovy—so much love and so much hate.
I usually buy mine in one of three ways: packed flat in olive oil in a tin, rolled up in salt in a jar, or in a tube of anchovy paste—the last of which, I must admit, I find both more convenient and more subtle than the other packaging. In cooking school, we used to soak anchovy filets in milk—most people need both their coffee and their anchovies with a touch of milk.
And so we've come to think of anchovies as a sort of condiment, either loved or hated. But I had to do actual research to determine what they look like. Other than those inside-of-the-green-olive-colored filets, with bony hairs (or are they hairy bones?) protruding menacingly from the flesh, and that pungent oceanic smell, what really is an anchovy? They are small green fish with a silver stripe that glisten blue in the water. Like so many of us, they prefer a temperate climate and cluster in areas neither too hot nor too cold. Congregating in the Mediterranean waters, they enjoy a sumptuous feast of fry and plankton, munched down by tiny teeth set in too-big-for-their-size jaws.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, November 20, 2009 at 10:45 AM
"Paula's face smiled up at me from the packaging, her familiar gray bob frozen into place, her lips shellacked with frosted pink gloss."
[Photographs: Lucy Baker]
Last week, in Ed's Brooklyn Star review, Ed deemed chef Joaquin Baca's biscuits "probably the best in newly biscuit-crazed New York." This so-called biscuit craze isn't limited to the Big Apple: all over the country people are harkening back to a time when food was simple, unfussy, and honest. Out with the fusion and small plates, in with the fried chicken and family-style menus. It's no wonder then that the humble biscuit is having a renaissance. Is there a more modest, straightforward food out there? I don't think so.
Of course, biscuits are a snap to whip up from scratch—but there are also a wealth of prepared and refrigerated biscuit doughs and biscuit mixes on the market. There are the obvious (Pillsbury), the organic (Arrowhead Mills), the Southern belles (Callie's), and then there are Paula Deen's.
That's right, y'all. The infamous Food Network star has launched her very own line of boxed mixes for Southern-inspired specialties including scones, grits, and hoecakes. Just in time for Thanksgiving, I tested out "The Lady's" Sweet Potato Biscuit Mix ($9.99).
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Posted by Ed Levine, November 20, 2009 at 10:00 AM
[Photograph: Robyn Lee]
Serious eaters, I'm about to stand before you (and on Thinner) a beaten man.
Why? It's been a bad serious diet week. I can cite the usual culprits: stress, bad eating habits, and too much access to seriously delicious food. And oh yeah, too many chocolate chip cookie taste tests. In fact, there's another one coming up this afternoon.
But too many chocolate chip cookie taste tests are not an acceptable excuse. I should try CCCTT abstinence this afternoon: Just say no!
But just saying no to the CCCTT won't rescue my weigh-in this morning.
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Posted by J. Kenji López-Alt, November 20, 2009 at 8:30 AM
It's time for another round of The Food Lab. Got a suggestion for an upcoming topic? Email Kenji here, and he'll do his best to answer your queries in a future post.
[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]
Like many things in life, the problem with turkey can be boiled down to two things: the government and breasts.
For some reason, years ago, turkey breeders got it in their heads that people like white meat. As a result, turkeys have been getting larger and larger breasts (that stick out further and further from their bodies). At the same time, the government got it in their heads that people don't want to kill themselves while cooking and subsequently started to recommend cooking turkey to that state beyond death known as "165°F."
And while it's true that the dark meat of a turkey needs to be taken to 165°F if you don't like having bloody streaks in your meat—particularly the meat right around the joints in the thighs and drumsticks—the breast meat shouldn't go much beyond 145°F if you don't want the life to be squeezed out of it.
Couple this with the fact that breasts—which project far above the body of the turkey—cook much faster than the legs, and you find that by the time the legs are the requisite 165°F, sections of the breast are well above 180°F. The consequences are familiar to all of us: dry, withered white meat that only a boatload of gravy can rescue.
I was forced to search for an all-poultry solution.
For the past several years, I've made it my mission each Thanksgiving to discover a way to improve this sorry state of affairs. The most successful method so far was to replace the turkey with a suckling pig and feign ignorance when it arrived at the table all golden-brown and crackly. But my family caught on when my kid sister pointed out that turkeys don't have curly-cue tails, and I was forced to search for an all-poultry solution.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 20, 2009 at 7:30 AM
"But it's a harmless tub of peanut butter!" TSA says no. [Photograph: Robyn Lee]
Just because it's the holiday season doesn't mean TSA will go easy on the liquid rule. Keep in mind that the following items will not survive the checkpoint for carry-on luggage:
- Cranberry sauce
- Cologne
- Creamy dips and spreads (cheeses, peanut butter, etc.)
- Gift baskets with food items (like salsa, jams and salad dressings)
- Gravy
- Jams
- Jellies
- Lotions
- Maple syrup
- Oils and vinegars
- Salad dressing
- Salsa
- Sauces
- Snowglobes (not edible but important to note)
- Soups
- Wine, liquor and beer
Note: You can bring pies and cakes through the security checkpoint, but please be advised that they are subject to additional screening.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 19, 2009 at 7:15 PM
No more fighting at the Thanksgiving table over who gets to break the wishbone; this year, just buy plastic wishbones from Lucky Break Wishbone. In the grand world of plastic wishbone technology, their wishbone-shaped plastic bits are a probably the best. Or the only ones. They come in packs of 4 (the "Fun" pack) to 400 (the "Galaxy" pack because, indeed, you are supplying every plastic wishbone-desiring person in the galaxy).
Related
Inflatable Gag Gobbler
Inflatable Fruit Cake
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- Tokyo Is Tops: Michelin is awarding more three-star ratings to Tokyo than Paris for the 2010 guides. [Seattle Times]
- Curry in Tokyo: Recs on where to get it. [Bloomberg]
- Extreme Beers: Extreme beers aren't necessarily strong; they bring something new to the brewing process [WashPost]
- Dry-Brined Turkey: Make your turkey moist and flavorful. [LA Times]
- Obama's Food Trail: Where Obama has eaten in DC. [BA High Life]
- No Tip, Go to Jail: Even if the service is poor. [Express-Times]
- Xantham Gum: How it's used in cooking. [More Intelligent Life]
- Guy Fieri Roadshow Report: A pork encore can't save this show. [EMD]
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, November 19, 2009 at 6:00 PM
Still don't have a turkey plan this year? Then we've got a contest for you. The good folks at D'Artagnan are providing us with a turkey a day to give away to one lucky Serious Eats reader from today until Sunday, November 22.*
D'Artagnan is a purveyor of many things delicious—from pâtés to sausages, foie gras to wild mushrooms, game meat to truffles. But right now we're especially interested in their turkeys.
D'Artagnan's certified organic birds are fed organic grains and pure spring water—no protein supplements, no added poultry or fish byproducts, no pesticides or herbicides, and no antibiotics or growth hormones. The result is a bird with great flavor, tenderness, and a 25 percent lower fat content than standard commercially raised turkeys.
We will be giving away 12- to 14-pound organic free-range birds for the duration of the contest. Contest is open only to participants in the continental U.S. Details after the jump.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 19, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Each week we round up our favorite posts and recipes from our friends at The Kitchn.
This week, the Kitchn makes some silly turkey cupcakes, proving that you can still put the candy corn leftovers to use.
Also on the Kitchn, non-alcoholic bubbly drinks, five alternatives to creamed pearl onions, hot chocolate on a stick, and ten recipes for barks and brittles.
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Posted by Leslie Kelly, November 19, 2009 at 2:30 PM
[Photograph: Darlene Barnes]
Lost in a sensory memory while chopping pimento-stuffed olives, I slashed through my thumbnail. I should have known better—mixing politics and food preparation can be dangerous.
I was making olive salad for muffulettas for the 70 guys at Alpha Sigma Phi. My boss, Louisiana native Darlene Barnes, pulled the recipe from Cooking Up a Storm, the epic, deeply moving post-Katrina roundup of recipes lost in the disaster, a collection compiled by veteran food writers at the Times-Picayune.
While making that flat-out delicious recipe, I started thinking about the first time I had a muffuletta in New Orleans (at Central Grocery), about how much I love that city and how angry I was that five years later, there's still much to do. Will it ever be the same? Sure, there has been progress—visitors are back, carrying Hand Grenades, Hurricanes, and Big Ass Beers down Bourbon Street. But the going's slower on the outskirts of the city.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 19, 2009 at 12:45 PM
Thanksgiving is all about spending time with friends and family, eating a hearty meal, and making sure all your guests provide food and utensils to your exact specifications, or else Thanksgiving will be ruined.
This Thanksgiving letter from Awkward Family Photos made the rounds back in July (including a post in Talk), but we're bringing it back for the holidays. An excerpt:
Now, while I do have quite a sense of humor and joke around all the time, I COULD NOT BE MORE SERIOUS when I am providing you with your Thanksgiving instructions and orders. I am very particular, so please perform your task EXACTLY as I have requested and read your portion very carefully. If I ask you to bring your offering in a container that has a lid, bring your offering in a container WITH A LID, NOT ALUMINUM FOIL! If I ask you to bring a serving spoon for your dish, BRING A SERVING SPOON, NOT A SOUP SPOON! And please do not forget anything.
The remaining 75 percent of the letter is dedicated to specific directions for the six visiting families. I know what I'm thankful for this year: that I'm not in that family.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 19, 2009 at 12:00 PM
As far as festivals go, the kind that celebrates fried food on bread is a pretty good one. This Sunday is the third annual New Orleans Po-Boy Festival.
What exactly is a po-boy? Well, the definition isn't too concrete. You can put almost anything on a crunchy French loaf with sauce and call it a po' boy. Oysters, fried green tomatoes, shrimp, roast beef, ham and cheese, catfish, duck, barbecued meats. A bunch of New Orleans purveyors—including Acme Oyster House, Emeril's Restaurant, and Parkway Bakery & Tavern—will be stuffing miscellaneous foods (even French fries) into bread this weekend.
And if you're somehow not that into po-boys, the festival will also feature another New Orleans sandwich icon: the muffuletta. Next order of business: the Muffuletta Festival. Make it happen, people! The video, after the jump.
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Posted by Nikki Goldstein, November 19, 2009 at 11:15 AM
[Photo: Amazon.com]
Marinade injectors always perplexed me a little bit: Marinades are made to be absorbed into meat without fancy tools, and that's much of their appeal. But Progressive International's 4-in-1 Flavor Injector ($12.59 at Amazon.com) features multiple tips that fulfill different purposes, and we've learned by now that I can't say no to multi-tasking kitchen tools.
Though I'm still unsure about the fourth function, I know I have three of them down pat: without a special tip, you can inject herbs or small solids, while two tips are included for liquids and chunks. Between the packaging and extensive research, it would seem that the fourth function is purely a storage system that lets you stick each tip into the next, all attaching into the plunger. If you ask me, that's not much of a fourth function.
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Posted by Gina DePalma, November 19, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Gina is back in Italy for an overdue vacanza, so for the next few weeks, Seriously Italian is morphing back into Snapshots from Italy as she shares with you some of her favorite food outings.
[Photographs: Gina DePalma]
Autumn, or l'autunno, is my absolute favorite food season in Rome. At no other time of year will I find all of my favorites converging upon the market, at their peak, simultaneously. Puntarella and broccoli romanesco, porcini and ovoli, zucca and chestnuts, pears, apples and clementines-each one is enough to make me swoon with happiness. But then persimmons come along in the midst of all the bounty and put me right over the top.
If you've never sunk a spoon into a soft, oozing persimmon, you are truly missing one of life's greatest pleasures. The problem is, obtaining a persimmon just at the edge of perfection can be difficult, and ripening one at home often doesn't work out. If you attempt eating too soon, an unripe persimmon can be so astringent it rips the lining of your palate right off. But when ripe and unctuous, a persimmon is a thing of wonder-soft, juicy, and sweet as syrup. When a persimmon is perfect, and perfectly ripe, no dessert creation can top it.
Luckily, I've endured no disappointing persimmons in Rome, because Italians innately understand how to purchase and serve them. It is not uncommon for folks in the smaller towns and countryside to have a persimmon tree in their yards, or spot them, heavy with fruit, in parks and piazzas.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 19, 2009 at 8:30 AM
"Eating Stovetop is kind of like eating Cheerios. There are really no surprises—you know exactly what it's going to taste like."
So much bread mush. [Photographs: Robyn Lee]
Ah, stuffing. Nobody pays much attention to you all year and then bam—Thanksgiving hits and the starch junkie in all of us comes out. Technically this tasting involved "dressings" and not "stuffings" since we baked them in casserole pans, not inside the turkey's hollowed-out body. And for the record, we'll probably just keep calling it stuffing.
Lots of spoons were used in this process.
We shopped around and rated the following brands: Stovetop, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods 365, Martin's Potato Rolls, Pepperidge Farms (both Herb-Seasoned and Cornbread), and Canterbury Organics. The results, after the jump.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 19, 2009 at 7:45 AM
From The Oatmeal comes 15(ish) Things Worth Knowing About Coffee, such as that it's the second most traded commodity on earth and that a caffeine high will transport you to a magical land of rainbows, balloons, and unicorns.
Related
The 5 Phases of Caffeine Intake
Caffeine and Calories Chart
How to Make Milk Froth in Your Microwave
'If You Like Coffee'
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Posted by Adam Kuban, November 19, 2009 at 7:30 AM
Attention, Chicago-based Pioneer Woman fans, until they sell out, you can find clandestinely signed copies of Ree Drummond's book (The Pioneer Woman Cooks) at the Borders on Michigan Avenue (map). I love that she did this. Nice surprise for shoppers.
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, November 18, 2009 at 8:30 PM
[Photograph: bravotv.com]
Tonight at 10 p.m. ET, come join us as we watch one of the final episodes of Top Chef Las Vegas. Only five cheftestants are left and chef god Thomas Keller is stopping by to guest judge. For the Quickfire they'll have to make a ballotine, or a protein within a protein within a protein. Michael Voltaggio is sous-viding bacon inside chicken inside turkey. Sweet, sweet meat. Jump in the comment thread as this episode unfolds.
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Posted by Caroline Russock, November 18, 2009 at 7:45 PM
Focaccia by ElizabethS. [Photograph: The Manhattan Food Project]
For last week's Weekend Cook and Tell we challenged all of you to break out the yeast and flour and try your hand at bread baking. Who knew that so many of you are such accomplished bakers? Here are some of our favorite fresh-baked responses:
ElizabethS made good use of her free time by attempting to replicate the perfect focaccia she ate on her Italian honeymoon.
This upside-down tomato basil bread was avaryne's first attempt at bread-baking and the results were sinfully delicious.
hmw0029 made a light oat bread with pumpkin puree and sunflower seeds for the week's sandwiches.
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- Coolio the Foodio: Gangsta's Paradise chanteur has a cookbook. [Dishing]
- Thanksgiving Recipe Greats: A collection from icons like Julia Child, James Beard, and Edna Lewis. [WashPost]
- Frysmith: The L.A. fry truck has been "launching" for a while, but now they're serious. [LAist]
- Feeding the Hungry: A guide to donating food and volunteering on Thanksgiving. [Epi-Log]
- Eric Ripert Blushing: Watch the clip from Charlie Rose last night. [NYGS]
- T-Day Wines: Zinfandels can bring some energy to the table. [SFC]
- Marcus Samuelsson: He will cook at the White House for the Indian prime minister. [Politico]
- Fat Map: This diagram shows where the world's calories go. [HuffPo]
- Pie Crust Wimps: Quit whining and make it from scratch. [The Awl]
- Jean-Christophe Novelli: The dude on the new show Chef Academy. [EMD]
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"...That said, if we need a term to describe little gourmets-in-training, I vote 'taster tots.'" —jm chen, as an alternative to "koodies"
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Posted by Adam Kuban, November 18, 2009 at 5:00 PM
[Photograph: Robyn Lee]
The canned-pumpkin shortage is worse than originally predicted. If you were going to use this ingredient in your Thanksgiving pie this year but can't find it, we've come up with a list of alternative pies that don't use pumpkin. Why not try one of them this Thanksgiving? We give you 40 pumpkin-free recipes to consider (after the jump), but first, here's our favorite pie crust recipe: Cook's Illustrated's Foolproof Pie Dough.
[Special @jaydeflix/simon addendum: You can always roast fresh pumpkins for your pumpkin pie—if you can find them; heavy rain this year has negatively affected pumpkin crops in parts of the U.S. Alternatively, Carri points out, "You can also use cooked butternut squash or yams in place of pumpkin."]
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 18, 2009 at 3:45 PM
[Photographs: Cooking Issues]
Leave it to mad scientisty chef Dave Arnold to think, forget the oven, I'm going to prepare my Thanksgiving turkey in a double immersion circulator. Here's how it worked, as explained on the French Culinary Institute's blog Cooking Issues:
He filled a stock pot with duck fat and butter, and jammed the cavity with herbs. He then used two circulators set at 65°C. A hose was attached to one of the circulator's spouts and pushed into the cavity of the bird so that hot fat was not only circulated on the outside of the bird, but also injected into the center. It was circulated for two hours, chilled in a blast freezer, and then packed it up to his mom's house where it was finished off in an oven (obviously a deep fryer was out of the question. Fool me twice...).
The results were good. The only complaint he had was that the inside of the thighs (where the joint attaches to the torso) were too pink and needed more time, so he sliced that meat and finished it in a pan for 20 seconds.
Arnold did run into one little speed bump: the breast was best when prepared at 64°C, whereas the thigh and leg were best between 65 and 66°C, and it's important to keep the whole bird intact. You know, just your average Thanksgiving immersion circulator issue. Arnold is on the case, testing out solutions.
Related
The Food Lab: Turkey Brining Basics
High-Tech Cocktails with Nils Norén and Dave Arnold
Dave Arnold Explains Meat Glue
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, November 18, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Still don't have a turkey plan this year? Then we've got a contest for you. The good folks at D'Artagnan are providing us with a turkey a day to give away to one lucky Serious Eats reader from today until Sunday, November 22.*
D'Artagnan is a purveyor of many things delicious—from pâtés to sausages, foie gras to wild mushrooms, game meat to truffles. But right now we're especially interested in their turkeys.
D'Artagnan's certified organic birds are fed organic grains and pure spring water—no protein supplements, no added poultry or fish byproducts, no pesticides or herbicides, and no antibiotics or growth hormones. The result is a bird with great flavor, tenderness, and a 25 percent lower fat content than standard commercially raised turkeys.
We will be giving away 12- to 14-pound organic free-range birds for the duration of the contest. Contest is open only to participants in the continental U.S. Details after the jump.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 18, 2009 at 12:30 PM
"It's like a violent storm of fruit and...ham." That's the Ham Daiquiri for you—a blend of rum, pineapple, pineapple soda, honey, liquid smoke, ice, and ham. Keep a barf bag on the side, just to be safe. Watch the video after the jump.
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Posted by Lee Zalben, November 18, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Note: Lee Zalben, a.k.a. "the Peanut Butter Guy" is the creator of the Peanut Butter & Co., a New York sandwich shop with a national line of nut butters. Every week he chimes in with some nuttiness.
[Photographs: Lee Zalben]
Even though they call me the Peanut Butter Guy, which sounds like a rather salt-of-the-earth position, but I'll be honest. I can be a bit of a food snob. Don't get me wrong, I love diners, street food, penny candy, and all sorts of simple fare. But when I cook and bake, it's mostly from scratch. When I develop product recipes with my team at Peanut Butter & Co., it's almost always from scratch as well.
My mom is another story all together.
She is a big fan of kitchen shortcuts, using combinations of ready-made ingredients to "doctor up" foods. She's always calling and emailing me with her peanut buttery shortcuts, and I think she was a little hurt when I didn't use any of them in our cookbook.
But a couple months ago I went home to Philadelphia and she taught me a little lesson. A week before my visit, she told me about a chocolate peanut butter mousse pie at a local bakery we frequented when I was younger. When I got home, she casually mentioned "that chocolate peanut butter mousse pie" she picked up.
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Posted by Andrea Lynn, November 18, 2009 at 8:30 AM
[Flickr: House Of Sims]
When winter looms and it's time for those one-pot meals, nothing hits the comfort factor like a big bowl of chili. There's the endless debate over beans—should chili should include them or not?—but I say to each their own. I'm more interested in what secret ingredients you add to your chili for that unique wow factor.
Some months ago, I interviewed Todd Larrabee, who found a club with a long-standing (25 years!) Super Bowl tradition of chili cookoffs. The secret ingredient of this year's winner was grape jam and shrimp. As for Larrabee, he admits he's doctored his chili concoctions with everything from dried fruit to Peppermint Patty candy. But one ingredient that never makes it into his pot? Beans. You gotta draw the line somewhere.
A search on Chowhound revealed other interesting chili add-ins like red wine, tequila, horseradish, dark chocolate and cinnamon, Old Bay, fish sauce, V8 and peanut butter. Personally, no pot of chili of mine is complete without a strong shot of coffee and a hint of chocolate. What about yours?
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 18, 2009 at 6:00 AM
"Even the last scene takes place in a grocery store aisle where juice boxes play a key role."
The cover of the Fantastic Mr. Fox soundtrack. [Image: Amazon]
Over the weekend I saw Fantastic Mr. Fox, the stop-motion animation by Wes Anderson based on the kiddie-lit classic by Roald Dahl. While the book has some simple pencil sketches by Quentin Blake, the film is filled with lavish food scenes that may actually make you hungry, even if the cakes and roasted meats are made of clay.
Without giving too much away, the story's whole premise revolves around Mr. Fox 's obsessive mission to steal from three bad guy farmers—Boggis, Bunce and Bean—each of whom fixates on a single type of food or drink.
Boggis eats chicken prepared three or four ways for every meal. Bunce is crazy for pâté-filled doughnuts (and even has a contraption that infuses each bun with the meat paste). Bean guzzles down jugs of cider and has somehow engineered an apple that naturally grows with whimsical star designs.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, November 17, 2009 at 9:30 PM
You've come a long way, baby koodie. ["Ravenous Girl," print available at Plan59, starting at $16]
Koodie is a new term making the rounds in the online food space. Coined by Phil Lempert, "Supermarket Guru":
koodie: -noun Slang. A kid keenly interested in food, especially eating, cooking, or watching reruns of Julia Child. A kid who has an ardent or refined interest in food; a mini-gourmet; usually trained by one or both parents to have an unusual, and sometimes fanatic, desire to eat unusual foods. Evolution from the now-defunct word foodie.
Can my eyes roll any harder?
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- Just Roast Your Own: We warned you in September, but today Libby's confirms canned pumpkin shortage. [NYT]
- How to Perfectly Cook a Steak: Flip frequently for even doneness, a nice crust, and faster cooking times. Wow. Counterintuitive, no? [Cooking Issues]
- "Where Food Lovers Meet": That's the tagline on the new dating section of Jamie Oliver's website, powered by match.com. [jamieoliver.com]
- Thomas Keller: Likes to cook one-pot meals at home. [Reuters]
- Claw Hammer: Brooklyn chef proud he threw lobster at diner. [Gothamist]
- White House: New York City chef Marcus Samuelsson may cook the state dinner being held November 24. [NYT]
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 17, 2009 at 6:45 PM
[Photograph: national Palace Museum]
That's not a glistening chunk of pork—that's a stone carved to look like a glistening chunk of pork. The "Meat-shaped Stone," along with the "Jadeite Cabbage," made during the Ch'ing Dynasty (1644–1911) are some of the most famous pieces at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan.
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Posted by tressa eaton, November 17, 2009 at 5:45 PM
[Flickr: ExperienceLA]
Thanksgiving is coming up quick and it's time to start thinking about all the fixins' and the main event—the turkey. This year, think about committing to a Heritage turkey instead of your normal supermarket pick.
A Normal Bird
[Flickr: Martin Pettitt]
So what's wrong with most of those birds you'll find in the supermarket?
Your normal bird (almost all turkeys bred for Thanksgiving are the Broad-Breasted White or Broad-Breasted Bronze variety) are so removed from a traditional turkey that they must be artificially inseminated to reproduce. These birds, all come from one basic genetic line that was developed in the 1950's. In keeping with Americans' preference for white meat, these birds were bred to have extremely large breasts, rendering them so top-heavy that they cannot fly and are barely able to walk. Besides the issues of large scale turkey operations raising turkeys in horrible confinement conditions, many turkeys at the grocery store are injected with a mystery cocktail of basting solution and preservatives to make them weigh more and taste buttery.
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According to the Associated Press, Costco has dropped Coca-Cola products while the two companies sort through a pricing dispute. Costco says it wants lower wholesale prices so it can pass along savings to its customers. Coke is balking. But the article indicates that the dispute will likely be settled quickly. Until then, bubble up somewhere else, folks.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 17, 2009 at 3:30 PM
[Photograph: Robyn Lee]
Increase your knowledge of food trivia and history with Mental Floss's list of 9 tasty foods named after people. And now I know that nachos were invited by a guy named Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya.
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, November 17, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Still don't have a turkey plan this year? Then we've got a contest for you. The good folks at D'Artagnan are providing us with a turkey a day to give away to one lucky Serious Eats reader from today until Sunday, November 22.*
D'Artagnan is a purveyor of many things delicious—from pâtés to sausages, foie gras to wild mushrooms, game meat to truffles. But right now we're especially interested in their turkeys.
D'Artagnan's certified organic birds are fed organic grains and pure spring water—no protein supplements, no added poultry or fish byproducts, no pesticides or herbicides, and no antibiotics or growth hormones. The result is a bird with great flavor, tenderness, and a 25 percent lower fat content than standard commercially raised turkeys.
We will be giving away 12- to 14-pound organic free-range birds for the duration of the contest. Contest is open only to participants in the continental U.S. Details after the jump.
Continue reading »
Comments are Closed.
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Posted by Claire Sellers, November 17, 2009 at 2:05 PM
©iStockphoto.com/wolfephoto
If you eat gravy just once a year, Thanksgiving is the day to do it.
Gravy is broken down into two schools:
- Thickened gravy, made with flour and meat drippings and typically paired with white meats
- Unthickened gravy, which doesn't contain flour or cream and goes nicely with red meats
Giblet gravy is the way to go with turkey. For ham, try red-eye gravy, made from ham drippings and coffee. There are plenty of options to accommodate the noncarnivorous lifestyle, too, including relishes, chutneys, or just straight pickles. So pull out the gravy boat and check out our recipes, after the jump.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, November 17, 2009 at 12:15 PM
An instant classic from Season 31 of Saturday Night Live (2005–2006). Bill Hader as Vincent Price, hosting a Thanksgiving special that, naturally, would work better as a Halloween special. Worth watching again, if you've seen it. Video, after the jump.
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Some folks have streets or schools named after them, others leave a legacy behind in desserts. Cakespy, aka Jessie Oleson, put together this impressive list of inspired sweets—everything from Cherry Garcia ice cream to graham crackers to Robert Redford cake.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, November 17, 2009 at 10:45 AM
[Illustration: Eating the Road]
If, for some reason, you find yourself in a fast food mood, the blog Eating the Road has a humorous flowchart to guide you through the decision-making process. Factors start out fairly straightforward (location, time of day) but then grow increasingly absurd ("Are you you drunk?" "On malt liquor?") as you work your way down the decision tree.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, November 17, 2009 at 7:30 AM
From J&D's, the people who brought you Bacon Salt and Baconnaise (among other bacon-flavored products), come bacon-flavored envelopes. Yeah, instead of tasting like paste, you can now dream of breakfast as you pay your bills.
As with Bacon Salt and Baconnaise, there's no real bacon in Mmmvelopes, so they're as vegetarian- or vegan-friendly as a pork-flavored stationery item can be. As such, the website says you don't need to refrigerate them. Available at mmmvelopes.com, $6.99 for 25 envelopes
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 16, 2009 at 7:30 PM
Insert turkey into violently frothing pit of oil. [Flickr: nukeit1]
I've never deep fried a turkey or eaten deep-fried turkey, and after watching these videos of turkey frying gone wrong (that is, they turn into fireballs Satan would be proud of) at Eat Me Daily, I'm thinking, "Yeah...I'm fine just going with the ol' roasting method." But then I see a photo of crispy, golden turkey, and I think this deep frying thing may not be such a bad idea.
Do you break out the turkey fryer for Thanksgiving—without incurring injury or calls to the local fire department?
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 16, 2009 at 6:45 PM
[Photograph: Gorilla Tango Novelty Meats Stock Photos.]
If you're tired of traditional, tiny hot dogs, then Gorilla Tango Novelty Meats has the thing for you: the Big Hot Dog, or Big Ass Hot Dog. Considering that you have to slice it into patties to eat it—thus turning it into a sandwich—it's more of a massive bologna log than hot dog, but "Big Ass Bologna Log" just doesn't have the same ring to it as "Big Ass Hot Dog."
At 16 inches long, four inches in diameter, and seven pounds, the hot dog provides 50 servings of processed meat trimmings for $39.95. Learn more about the Big Hot Dog by watching their handy infomercial.
Related
Hot Dog of the Week
Günter's Hot Dog Stand in Stockholm, Sweden
Snapshots from Iceland: Hot Dog from Baejarins Beztu Pylsur
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- McRib Returneth: McDonald's elusive sandwich is spotted in California. [SFist]
- More Benadryl: Kids' food allergies increase by nearly 20%. [WebMD]
- Obama Egg Art: A Chinese artist created egg art paintings of Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao. [Obama Foodorama]
- Street Food Trailer Parks: It's trending in Austin. [Gadling]
- Turkey Pop-Up Timers: How the little gadgets work. [Chicagoist]
- Shredded Wheat Bridges: London's panorama made of food. [DailyMail]
- TGEWS: The Great Eggo Waffle Shortage of 2009. [Bloomberg via EMD]
- Ground Hero: Subway sandwicherie will open on a crane at Ground Zero. [NYP]
- KCRW Pie Contest: The Pie-A-Day Project in L.A. culminated on Saturday with 123 pies and lots of plastic forks. [LAist]
- Chef Academy: Bravo's newest cooking show premieres tonight. [WashPost]
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Posted by Gordon Mark, November 16, 2009 at 5:30 PM
With all the channels on broadcast TV and cable—and the inevitable episode repeats—it's hard to sort out what's new or worthwhile. Let us sort it out for you so you don't miss anything worth watching. Times may vary with region; check your local listings for exact hour and channels.
Monday (November 16)
Dear Food Network (warning, a video plays automatically on site): "Top 10 Thanksgiving Problems Solved." Food Network answers viewer's top ten most popular questions about Thanksgiving. 9 p.m. ET, Food Network
Cake Boss: "Children, a Cage, and a Challenge." Buddy makes a talking cake and a cage fighting-themed cake. 10 p.m. ET, TLC
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (warning, a video plays automatically on site): "Legacies." Guy checks out longtime favorite eateries in Cleveland, Ohio; Buffalo, NY; and Attleboro, Massachusetts. 10 p.m. ET, Food Network
Chef Academy: "Coming to America." Nine students are chosen for chef Jean-Christophe Novelli's test program for a culinary institute in Los Angeles. 11 p.m. ET, BRAVO
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: Chef Josh Capon is a guest. 12:35 a.m. ET, NBC
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Cook the Book: How to Roast a Lamb: AnaisKoi, feep, Karen Moore, MiaPita, and sahmad550. Winners have been notified by email and also appear on our Contest Winners page. Thanks to all who entered.
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, November 16, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Still don't have a turkey plan this year? Then we've got a contest for you. The good folks at D'Artagnan are providing us with a turkey a day to give away to one lucky Serious Eats reader from today until Sunday, November 22.*
D'Artagnan is a purveyor of many things delicious—from pâtés to sausages, foie gras to wild mushrooms, game meat to truffles. But right now we're especially interested in their turkeys.
D'Artagnan's certified organic birds are fed organic grains and pure spring water—no protein supplements, no added poultry or fish byproducts, no pesticides or herbicides, and no antibiotics or growth hormones. The result is a bird with great flavor, tenderness, and a 25 percent lower fat content than standard commercially raised turkeys.
We will be giving away 12- to 14-pound organic free-range birds for the duration of the contest. Contest is open only to participants in the continental U.S. Details after the jump.
Continue reading »
Comments are Closed.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 16, 2009 at 2:30 PM
"One sip locks in so much apple flavor. It's as if you were drinking the juice from ten apples in one gulp—multiplied by alcohol."
Apples need to reach popsicle temperatures before they're fermented for ice cider. [Flickr: rabasz]
Ice cider, or cidre de glace as its known in its birth place of Quebec, is kind of a cross between ice wine and hard cider. Like ice wine, the fruit (apples, not grapes, in this case) are left on the vine during chilly winters until they shrivel up. This produces the sweetest nectar possible. The super-concentrated juices are then pressed and fermented to add a little zing. The alcohol content usually ranges between 7% and 13% per volume.
Cryomalus ice cider. [Photograph: Erin Zimmer]
The ice cider industry (industry might sound like a stretch, but it's actually expanding pretty fast) is centered in Canada, which involves about 50 producers. Cryomalus, a younger company, is based in the Saint-Joseph-du-Lac region of Quebec. Their 2007 variety, which comes in a skinny bottle like its dessert wine cousins, includes five types of apple: McIntosh, Cortland, Lobo, Spartan, and Empire.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 16, 2009 at 1:45 PM
Note: It's time for another edition of Street Food Profiles. This week we scoot to Santa Barbara where a former school bus becomes a delicious burger-mobile.
"CB&J," aka Cheeseburger and Jelly (that would be jalapeno jelly). [Photographs: The Burger Bus]
Name: The Burger Bus
Vendors: Cheryl and Michael Gardner
Twitter: @theburgerbus
Location and hours? Tuesday through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturdays are TBA. Locations vary but are always updated online.
What's on the menu? Locally sourced cheeseburgers (including one with jelly), falafel, and sides like yam fries, fried pickle chips, and onion rings.
How long have you been street fooding? Five months.
How has Twitter affected business? Although Santa Barbara is a small city, Twitter helps remind our customers where we are and alerts them to special promotions, like wearing your Burger Bus t-shirt to get a free soda.
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Posted by Caroline Russock, November 16, 2009 at 1:00 PM
Growing up in Charleston, South Carolina, left Matt and Ted Lee with a passion for Southern food that refused to be tamed. They have been spreading the gospel of Southern cooking since 1994, the year they started The Lee Bros. Boiled Peanuts Catalogue, a mail order source for foods that are hard to find above the Mason-Dixon Line.
With the success of the catalog came offers from magazines for the brothers to write about the subject that was so near and dear to them, Matt and Ted Lee quickly became the go-to guys for all things related to Southern foodways. The next logical step was a cookbook, and The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook was born. This comprehensive book of classic Southern recipes interwoven with warm personal tales of the Lee brothers' childhood won the 2007 James Beard Cookbook of the Year award and became a cookbook shelf staple for anyone interested in Southern food.
Matt and Ted Lee are back with a new book of modern takes on Southern ingredients, Simple Fresh Southern. The dishes are simple to prepare, and a little lighter—maybe even a bit healthier—than before, but they certainly don't skimp on bold, fresh Southern flavors. There are plenty of butter beans, buttermilk, collards, shrimp, and oysters to make any Charleston grandma proud.
This week we are going to put a uniquely Southern spin on your Thanksgiving meal with recipes from Simple Fresh Southern. We'll start out with a stuffing inspired cocktail, the Celery Julep, move on to some quick Pickled Grapes with Rosemary and Chiles that are prefect for cocktail hour, and round out the week with some holiday ready sides, Squash Half Moons with Butter, Sesame, and Salt, and Braised Carrots with Tarragon and Lime.
Win 'Simple Fresh Southern'
Thanks to the generosity of the folks over at Clarkson Potter, we are giving away five (5) copies of Simple Fresh Southern this week. All you have to do is tell us about your favorite Thanksgiving side in the comments section below.
Five (5) people will be chosen at random among the eligible comments below. We're sorry, but entry is only open to residents of the U.S. and Canada. Comments will close Monday, November 23 at noon ET. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 16, 2009 at 12:15 PM
Make your gravy extra special this Thanksgiving by getting cooking tips from Gravies of the Ancients, the "weekly magazine for the sauce enthusiast." Secrets of the Minoan gravysmiths and the lost gravies of the Incas can finally be yours. Watch the video after the jump.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 16, 2009 at 11:45 AM
"Pumpkin Cloud" by Wayne Thiebaud.
The November 23 issue of The New Yorker is the special food issue. Here is a peek at some of the articles:
Taste Makers: How do the flavors of Snapple, ice cream, and gum get manufactured? A profile on a real-life Willy Wonka named Michelle Hagen who works at Givaudan in Cincinnati, the largest flavor and fragrance manufacturer in the world.
Lunch with M: A special look into the rating process of the Michelin guide. For the first time in history, the company allowed a journalist to chat with an anonymous inspector at a three-star Michelin-rated restaurant (Jean-Georges in New York City). Only 26 three-star restaurants exist in France, and only 81 in the world.
Funny Food: Calvin Trillin examines poutine, the Canadian mess of French fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy. Here is a special audio clip with Trillin.
More after the jump.
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Posted by BostonZest, November 16, 2009 at 11:05 AM
Note: On Mondays, one of our various Market Scene correspondents checks in with what's fresh at farmstands, what's coming up, and what you better get while the gettin's good. This week, we hear from Boston correspondent Penny Cherubino of Boston Zest. Take us to the market, Penny!
[Photographs: Penny Cherubino]
Boston's Copley Farmers' Market
Open Tuesdays and Fridays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (map) The final market of the season is Wednesday, November 25.
At the Copley Square Farmers' Market in Boston's Back Bay, customers and vendors were saying goodbyes. Their market season is ending. Customers asked, "How many more weeks do we have?" Vendors counted down, "Two more weeks, three more markets."
Under a pale gray sky, with a punishing wind, a powerful gust took down one of the market tents. Simeon Cook from Cook's Farm and Bakery kept one eye on his own tent from behind his pies, breads, cookies and granola. He had mixed feelings about the end of the season. Yes, he'll miss his customers, but he said, "On a day like today, I look forward to sitting by my fireplace all winter."
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 16, 2009 at 8:30 AM
[Photograph: Sarah Shatz]
Each week Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs host recipe contests revolving around specific foods (everything from pancakes to lamb) on their site Food52. After testing the recipes, they announce the two tastiest finalists and the community votes on the winner. Naturally, they've been focusing on Thanksgiving lately. Elbow-deep in stuffing preparation, they paused to chat with us and share some of their favorite recipes for Thanksgiving sides, including celeriac puree, glazed brussels sprouts with browned butter and cream, potato leek au gratin, and pink greens.
With Food52 in its first year, how did you two plan to attack Thanksgiving coverage? Merrill and Amanda: Well, we decided very quickly not to do turkey. It's such a personal thing. Instead we wanted to focus the two weekly challenges on sides. We recently did one on just brussels sprouts—they've experienced such a renaissance in restaurants over the last few years—and we're wrapping up the cranberry sauce and stuffing categories now.
Do you actually mean stuffing? Or what's technically known as dressing? Merrill: My family always made "dressing" (cooked outside of the bird) but still called it stuffing. We were pretty loosey goosey as far as naming goes. Amanda: Same. I'm a dressing person but growing up, we always called it stuffing. Though I'm open to the idea of referring to it as dressing.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 16, 2009 at 7:00 AM
This Good Eats segment from October is full of breakfast-making pointers, but if you jump to 3:20, you'll get one of the juiciest tips of all: to prepare bacon in a waffle iron. Alton Brown cuts the rashers in half then throws them onto the center of the iron, where they sizzle for a total of five minutes. The end result looks mouthwateringly beautiful. You can either save the bacon grease trapped in the iron's little nooks for flavoring hash browns or of course, baconify your next batch of waffles. Watch the video, after the jump.
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, November 15, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Still don't have a turkey plan this year? Then we've got a contest for you. The good folks at D'Artagnan are providing us with a turkey a day to give away to one lucky Serious Eats reader from today until Sunday, November 22.*
D'Artagnan is a purveyor of many things delicious—from pâtés to sausages, foie gras to wild mushrooms, game meat to truffles. But right now we're especially interested in their turkeys.
D'Artagnan's certified organic birds are fed organic grains and pure spring water—no protein supplements, no added poultry or fish byproducts, no pesticides or herbicides, and no antibiotics or growth hormones. The result is a bird with great flavor, tenderness, and a 25 percent lower fat content than standard commercially raised turkeys.
We will be giving away 12- to 14-pound organic free-range birds for the duration of the contest. Contest is open only to participants in the continental U.S. Details after the jump.
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Posted by Claire Sellers, November 15, 2009 at 3:00 PM
[Photo: Adam Kuban]
Southern Comfort: With Southern-inspired brunch spots springing up all over Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Ed Levine scopes out the brunch eats at Brooklyn Star.
Pizza Madness: During Adam Kuban's West Coast pizza tour, he stops in Seattle and falls in love with Serious Pie.
Bad News Burger: Daniel Zemans originally included Hackney's in Chicago on his top 5 burgers list. However, after a second tasting five years later, he definitely changes his mind.
Bagel Loyalties: Erin Zimmer takes on Montreal and tries to decide who has the best bagels: St-Viateur or Fairmount.
Loving Brunch: Deep-fried french toast almost sounds too good to be true. Try adding foie gras torchon, drizzled with fresh strawberry preserves and you've got a seriously delicious brunch plate at The Publican in Chicago.
Inexplicably Addictive: Daniel Zemans takes a bite out of one of the most successful pizza businesses in St. Louis today, Imo's Pizza.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 15, 2009 at 2:00 PM
What's shaking in the Houston food scene? A rockstar chef named Bryan Caswell, some Texas-Italian fusion cuisine, and, though they've been around for a while, the pastry pockets known as kolaches. These are just a few of the city's trends—chime in with more that you've noticed.
Kolaches
Mixed box of kolaches from the Kolache Factory. [Flickr: finna dat]
Kolaches, a sort of Eastern European Hot Pocket, are all over Texas. The pastry pocket is a fun food medium—just think of how many meats, veggies, and cheeses you can stuff in there. With such a big Czech presence in central Texas, most of the really good ones are there, but have gradually spread east to Houston (the supposed best are in La Grange at Weikel's Bakery).
Back in 1982 the Kolache Factory opened in Houston and has turned into a mini-chain, selling basic flavors like cream cheese to the more Texas-inspired jalapeno and cheddar or sausage. Some places get even crazier with fillings, most notably the boudin kolaches from Shipley Do-nuts—yes, that would be a moist sweet dough bun filled with spicy pork. They usually run out early.
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Posted by Claire Sellers, November 15, 2009 at 11:00 AM
[Photo: Melody Kramer]
Seriously French: Kerry Saretsky creates a fantastic recipe for braised lamb shanks with lemon confit and sweet pearl onions.
Delicious Dinner: Blake Royer shares a flavorful recipe for seared cauliflower with couscous and almonds.
Celebrating Sweet Potatoes: Cakespy remedies the problem of being too full to enjoy sweet potato pie after a full Thanksgiving feast with this sweet potato tarte tatin.
Fool-Proof Crust: While a store-bought pie crust can be a great convenience, Melody Kramer's recipe for easy chocolate pie crust might have you making your own.
Gluten-Free: Millet, which is the "tofu grain of the world", does not have to be boring, especially with this recipe for chilled millet salad with jicama and mango.
Tripe Bliss: Always uncovering something unknown and delicious, Chichi Wang celebrates the glory of lamb tripe with this two-day recipe for lamb tripe stew.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 14, 2009 at 5:00 PM
[Photograph: Dessine moi un objet]
One perk about cracker-based cutlery is the easy clean-up after use. Crunch. The design blog Dessine Moi un Objet shows you how to make these salad tossers (as well as a salad dressing receptacle) from dough. Though the site is in French, the step-by-step photos are pretty explanatory. One disclaimer: maybe don't use these around impressionable children—they might think it's acceptable to eat utensils. [via The Kitchn]
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, November 14, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Still don't have a turkey plan this year? Then we've got a contest for you. The good folks at D'Artagnan are providing us with a turkey a day to give away to one lucky Serious Eats reader from today until Sunday, November 22.*
D'Artagnan is a purveyor of many things delicious—from pâtés to sausages, foie gras to wild mushrooms, game meat to truffles. But right now we're especially interested in their turkeys.
D'Artagnan's certified organic birds are fed organic grains and pure spring water—no protein supplements, no added poultry or fish byproducts, no pesticides or herbicides, and no antibiotics or growth hormones. The result is a bird with great flavor, tenderness, and a 25 percent lower fat content than standard commercially raised turkeys.
We will be giving away 12- to 14-pound organic free-range birds for the duration of the contest. Contest is open only to participants in the continental U.S. Details after the jump.
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Posted by Claire Sellers, November 14, 2009 at 11:00 AM
[Flickr: Swamibu]
As beautiful as they are delicious, pomegranates are in season from October through January. The pomegranate is one of the oldest fruits in history, first cultivated in Egypt around 100 B.C. Serving as a sign of fertility and rebirth, this highly celebrated fruit's skin and bark served medicinal purposes throughout history, although only the seeds are truly edible.
Today, the power of pomegranate is just as strong—loaded with antioxidants and vitamins, studies show that pomegranates have been proven to reduce heart disease and aid other health issues. There are well over 100 varieties of pomegranates, such as Cloud, Francis, Granada, Home, King, and the most popular and widely distributed, Wonderful variety.
Pomegranate recipes and tips after the jump.
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, November 14, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Cow udder, corn smut, fish sperm, sea worm, live octopus—these wouldn't appear on most people's dining tables, but somewhere out there, someone is eating these foods.
Extreme Cuisine, the new book from Eddie Lin of extreme food blog Deep End Dining, profiles these and over 50 other delicacies from around the world, ranging from the "not scary, just fat-tastic" Bacon Explosion, to the beloved Marmite/Vegemite spread, to the sadistic dojo tofu. I found a few foods in this book that I genuinely enjoy (mm, sweetbreads), but plenty of others that make me feel squeamish (I'm sorry; I just can't do witchetty grub).
Thanks to the good folks at Lonely Planet, we have five (5) copies of to give away. All you have to do to enter is tell us the most extreme food you've eaten (or want to eat).
Contest will end and comments will close at 3 p.m. ET, Monday, November 16, 2009. One entry per community member. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, November 14, 2009 at 8:00 AM
According to our handy site-metering utility, the top 10 most delicious items across the Serious Eats family of sites this week were ...
1. The Food Lab: Turkey Brining Basics
"...Enter brining, the process in which a lean cut of meat (like turkey, chicken breast, or pork) is soaked in a salt water solution to help it retain moisture during cooking. Sure, sure--this is nothing new. The Scandinavians and Chinese have been extolling the virtues of brining for millennia, and Cook's Illustrated has for at least a decade. But the thing that is odd to me is that people can't seem to agree on how it works--even the experts...."
2. In Season: Sweet Potatoes
"No other vegetable that says "fall" quite like the sweet potato. We all have our favorite recipes, and love debating which aunt's sweet potato casserole is the best. I still follow my Aunt Margaret's recipe, though with the addition and omission of several ingredients. Every time time I make the sugary, marshmallow topped casserole, my dad always says, "It tastes just like Margaret's"--bringing me instant culinary satisfaction. There is something nostalgic about the sweet potato that makes it taste that much better...."
3. Talk: Not-Boring Thanksgiving Recipes?
"...this year I'm breaking out though. And I need your help. I am looking for seven killer recipes: one amazing appetizer. One great recipe for a whole roast turkey (I already brine and generally follow Alton Brown's recipe). Four sides—potatoes, a green vegetable, and two wild cards using classic American ingredients. And a dessert...."
4. Cakespy: Homemade Starbucks-Style Cranberry Bliss Bars
"Cliché as it may sound coming from a Seattleite, I must confess to feeling a small thrill around this time of year when Starbucks rolls out their holiday spread. Those cute red holiday cups are a harbinger of festive sugar bombs, including gingerbread and eggnog lattes, decorated cookies--but for me, the fondest memories are associated with the cranberry bliss bar...."
5. Eat for Eight Bucks: Chili Roasted Chicken and Sweet Potatoes
"This is about as fast as dinner gets at my house. That isn't saying much, but an hour from start to finish for meat-starch-veg is nothing to sniff at, especially when the cook can put her feet up (or fold laundry--or amuse the baby) for a good chunk of that time. I usually make this with thighs only but this time bought the whole legs to save money. In the past I have tried this rub-and-roast with skinless pieces, and it seemed to work just as well."
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 13, 2009 at 6:45 PM
[Photographs: box vox]
Even though I rarely chew gum, I'd want these gumballs just for the adorable Lucky Cat packaging. (Other possible designs for white gumball packaging: snowmen, bunnies, penguins? Someone get on that.) [via The Dieline]
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- Buzzkill: FDA may ban alcoholic drinks containing caffeine. [NYT]
- Colbert vs. Miracle Whip: The rivalry started with some hipster ads. [Buzzfeed]
- Molluscs: It's oyster season in Texas. [Eating Our Words]
- Bacathlon: The first bacon-eating decathalon in Seattle next Thursday. [SW]
- Rick Bayless: The Chicago chef will perform in a burlesque show. [GB]
- Bluefin Tuna: Someone in this generation may be the last to eat the endangered fish. [Politics of the Plate via Bitten]
- Cauliflower Lungs: Neato ad from International Vegetarian Union. [BoingBoing]
- Food Network UK: Scripps launched the new food channel this week. [Eater]
- Deep-Fried Turkeys: Eight videos that will inspire to stick to the oven. [EMD]
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Posted by Gordon Mark, November 13, 2009 at 5:00 PM
With all the channels on broadcast TV and cable—and the inevitable episode repeats—it's hard to sort out what's new or worthwhile. Let us sort it out for you so you don't miss anything worth watching. Times and episodes may vary with region (especially PBS shows); check your local listings for exact hour and channels.
Saturday (November 14)
Secrets of a Restaurant Chef (warning, a video plays automatically on site): "The Secret of Brined Turkey." Anne shares her recipe for brined herb-crusted turkey. Also she'll show you how to make apple cider gravy and sausage-apple-walnut stuffing. 10:30 a.m. ET, Food Network
5 Ingredient Fix: "Thanksgiving Fest From One Grocery Bag." Claire shows you how to make a Thanksgiving feast from one grocery bag of ingredients. 12:30 a.m. ET, Food Network
Giada at Home (warning, a video plays automatically on site): "Thanksgiving." Giada makes pork chops for Thanksgiving dinner. 1 p.m. ET, Food Network
Barefoot Contessa (warning, a video plays automatically on site): "Thanksgiving 2.0." Ina makes truffle butter turkey, stuffing, sausage stuffed mushrooms, fast appetizers, gravy, roasted brussels sprouts, and turkey hash browns. 1:30 p.m. ET, Food Network
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, November 13, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Still don't have a turkey plan this year? Then we've got a contest for you. The good folks at D'Artagnan are providing us with a turkey a day to give away to one lucky Serious Eats reader from today until Sunday, November 22.*
D'Artagnan is a purveyor of many things delicious—from pâtés to sausages, foie gras to wild mushrooms, game meat to truffles. But right now we're especially interested in their turkeys.
D'Artagnan's certified organic birds are fed organic grains and pure spring water—no protein supplements, no added poultry or fish byproducts, no pesticides or herbicides, and no antibiotics or growth hormones. The result is a bird with great flavor, tenderness, and a 25 percent lower fat content than standard commercially raised turkeys.
We will be giving away 12- to 14-pound organic free-range birds for the duration of the contest. Contest is open only to participants in the continental U.S. Details after the jump.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 13, 2009 at 2:15 PM
[Photograph: Alastair Levy]
Something about receiving a big raw vegetable in the mail sounds way more appealing than a flat paper envelope. Maybe it's the whole image of a mailman stuffing it into the letter drop. This was taken by UK photographer Alastair Levy. [via Swiss Miss]
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Posted by Hawk Krall, November 13, 2009 at 1:30 PM
"The signature of the Danish Hot Dog is the mountain of crispy fried onions—pretty much exactly like the canned French fried onions."
[Original artwork: Hawk Krall]
This week marks the first Hot Dog of the Week outside of North America. Unique hot dog styles are evolving on every corner of the planet. Brazil alone has three or four unique styles. Japan probably invented four new hot dogs while I wrote this article.
European hot dog variations are extra fascinating because the dogs themselves are closer to the original German wieners, yet many of the serving styles and toppings are influenced by American hot dog variations.
I was thrilled when my fellow illustrator-food blogger Kris Chau came back from Copenhagen with a camera full of hot dog pictures. I've heard about Denmark's hot dogs from many who consider them to be some of the best in the world. Hot dogs, known as Polser in Denmark, are in fact the country's most popular street food, available all over from polsevogns (literally "sausage wagon") that offer hot dogs and sausages in a myriad of styles.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 13, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Canada already celebrated Thanksgiving back in October, but one chef, Frédéric Morin of Joe Beef in Montreal skipped the bread crumbs to make his own special spin on stuffing. He combined three of the city's iconic foods: bagels, smoked meat (and pickles) from Schwartz's Deli, and maple syrup. For the turkey, he spiced it up with some Montreal steak seasoning and drizzled Coca-Cola on top—the latter isn't particularly Canadian but it makes for a nice sweet glaze.
"Seasoning the other side [of the turkey] is like wearing clean underwear. Nobody sees them but it's just for your sake." I got to try Morin's well-seasoned bird and stuffing when traveling through Montreal recently, and have to say, both were darn tasty. Why didn't we ever think of making stuffing with bagels? Watch the video, after the jump.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 13, 2009 at 11:15 AM
[Photograph: Black Iron Dude]
If you love cast iron cookware or want to start using it, check out Black Iron Dude for recipes that use cast iron cookware, tips on washing and seasoning your cookware (and how not to season), information on antique skillets, and just about anything else related to cast iron cookware. [via Metafilter]
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Posted by Lucy Baker, November 13, 2009 at 10:30 AM
[Photographs: Lucy Baker]
The country's gone mad for fried chicken and so far I've kept my mouth shut. Truth be told, I'm a bit of a hater. It all began back in third grade when my class had a family recipe day. I cast my vote for chocolate donut cake (so named because it was baked in a tube pan), but my mother insisted on making the fried chicken she grew up with in Virginia.
I remember shaking the raw chicken pieces in a brown paper bag filled with breadcrumbs, and watching safely from across the kitchen as my mom dropped each breast and drumstick into a hissing pot of hot oil. The next day I carried a platter of cold fried chicken into school, where it languished until lunch and then was completely overshadowed by someone else's "heirloom" Rice Krispie treats.
Since then I've done my best to avoid fried chicken, opting for the rotisserie alternative or simply filling my plate with sides. I have never been to KFC, except once to use the bathroom on a long car trip. That may not be much of a loss, but I've also never had chicken and waffles, and once left a James Beard event ravenous because of the buttermilk-battered main dish.
Hell, if Thomas Keller came out with a line of cat food you could probably convince me to try it.
So last week, when Ed sent a fried chicken mix to my office (by messenger no less) with a note requesting that I review it as soon as possible, I was more than a little reluctant. I had been planning on chocolate chunk cookies or maybe lemon-poppy scones. But upon closer examination I realized this wasn't just any fried chicken mix. It was the Ad Hoc fried chicken mix ($14.95 for enough brine and mix to make two chickens, available at select Williams-Sonoma stores). As in Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc. Hell, if Thomas Keller came out with a line of cat food you could probably convince me to try it.
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Posted by Ed Levine, November 13, 2009 at 8:30 AM
From Ken's Artisan Pizza in Portland, Oregon. Read more here» [Photograph: Adam Kuban]
Why do I ask this question? Because over the course of the last few weeks, Adam and I have been hitting pizzerias all over the country for a March Madness-like tournament of pizza we are writing up for Rachael Ray Magazine and posting about on Slice.
While Adam has been to Seattle (twice), Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix in the last three weeks, I have been to two pizzerias in Atlanta, five in Chicago, four in Philadelphia, one in New Haven, and half a dozen in New York City. You will be reading more about our adventures in the coming weeks, but suffice to say that it has been a lot of fun.
The last time I embarked on such an ambitious pizza regimen I was doing the primary research for Pizza: A Slice of Heaven. In that case I have estimated that I ate a thousand slices of pizza in the course of a year. The key difference? Back then I weighed 265 pounds; back then I just blythly accepted the fact that I routinely overate, because that was who I was. Back then I guess you could say that I was willing to do die for my art, or my craft, or whatever one-word descriptor I could come up with to succinctly depict what I did back then.
But then is then, and now, four years and thousands of slices later, is now. I'm intent on staying around for a long time, no matter what I do for a living, I and I have lost almost fifty pounds in an effort to do so. So how does one eat a lot of pizza and face the scale music every Friday?
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 13, 2009 at 7:30 AM
[Photograph: Jason Fulford]
Kids will eventually want to know where donuts come from. This is actually a bag of Cheerios, the perfect gag gift for any donut-loving gardener in your life. The photograph was taken by Jason Fulford for Kenny Shopsin's book Eat Me. [via Laughing Squid]
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 12, 2009 at 7:30 PM
Raise Your Hand For Chocolate Milk is a new campaign from the National Dairy Council and Milk Processor Education Program to promote keeping chocolate milk in schools and prevent them being banned as schools have done with sugary sodas and candies, reports the AP. Unlike soda and candy though, chocolate milk can be touted for having nutritionally beneficial calcium. Supporters say that the health benefits of chocolate milk outweigh the negative effects of the sugar content, and kids are more likely to drink chocolate over regular milk; the opposition says kids already get enough calcium without chocolate milk, and they don't need more sugar in their diets.
Whose side are you on? Do you think chocolate milk should be kept in schools?
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- Lachanophobia: A woman who panics at the sight of veggies. [Telegraph]
- Food Naming Wars: Geographical food labeling conflicts in the EU. [GP]
- BYOP: Bring your own produce to this restaurant. [Guardian]
- Non-Rotting Apple: Longer living apples are almost here. [NYDN]
- Gingeriffic: Recipes for gingery soup, salad, dessert, and a cocktail. [NPR]
- Salty: Some of Jamie Oliver's pasta sauces are saltier than seawater. [TO]
- Celebrity Chef Etiquette: How to act around celeb chefs. [AFC]
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 12, 2009 at 6:00 PM
Each week we round up our favorite posts and recipes from our friends at The Kitchn.
[Photograph: The Chef and The Photographer]
This week, the Kitchn claims that mac and cheese can actually be light. This gooey version uses cottage cheese, sour cream, and low-fat milk in lieu of heavy cream.
Also on the Kitchn, an explanation on sulfites in wines, five alternatives to green bean casserole, the modern relish tray, and how to differentiate between porter and stout.
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Posted by Leslie Kelly, November 12, 2009 at 5:15 PM
David Chang and me. [Photograph: Traca Savadogo]
Lucky me—I recently got a double helping of David Chang, who unwittingly reaffirmed my culinary quest to try and make the leap from critic to cook.
First, at the Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium last month in Oxford, Mississippi, I shamelessly ingratiated myself by offering the superstar chef a little "Trick or Meat" on Halloween, sharing some salumi I toted from Salumi in Seattle. Chang and his crew were at the awesome annual event to make lunch for the 300-plus participants. (One highlight of the meal was beautiful, paper-thin slices of Allan Benton's country ham draped over tender salad greens.) After sampling some salumi, I think "mole" might be David Chang's new favorite four-letter word. He loved that slightly spicy cured meat packing a hint of cocoa: "That is one of the #@%#-ing best things I've ever put in my mouth!"
I got my second encounter this past week when he was in Seattle on his book tour. At an informal Q&A with local food bloggers, Chang said some encouraging words: When asked what he looks for in an employee, he said he'd rather roll with a crew of hard-working cooks who might not have the best skills, but were always trying to improve themselves, than an arrogant SOB who thinks he/she knows it all.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 12, 2009 at 3:45 PM
Jean-Talon Market
7070, Henri-Julien Street, south of Jean-Talon Street (map) Montreal, Québec
Jean-Talon Market is not only the biggest outdoor market in Montreal, it's one of the biggest in all of North America. The huge row of vendors (covered during the chilly season) seems to go on forever, and around the periphery, there are a bunch of great shops for Québec cheeses, maple products, gelato, hanging meats, fresh-caught fish, and ciders. You can have a whole meal there or just graze on apple slices and bumble about. Here are some favorite stops.
Havre-aux-Glaces
Every gelato and sorbet flavor here is killer, especially the maple brûlée (with all the crackle bits inside), strawberry with black pepper, Masala chai, pear cider, and grapefruit. They are super patient with sample monopolizers too. Look for new flavors on the blackboard.
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Don't buy guacamole when you can whip up a batch in only five minutes. Serious Eats contributor Michael Natkin shares a recipe for six-ingredient Ridiculously Good Guacamole in Five Minutes at his blog, Herbivoracious.
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, November 12, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Still don't have a turkey plan this year? Then we've got a contest for you. The good folks at D'Artagnan are providing us with a turkey a day to give away to one lucky Serious Eats reader from today until Sunday, November 22.*
D'Artagnan is a purveyor of many things delicious—from pâtés to sausages, foie gras to wild mushrooms, game meat to truffles. But right now we're especially interested in their turkeys.
D'Artagnan's certified organic birds are fed organic grains and pure spring water--no protein supplements, no added poultry or fish byproducts, no pesticides or herbicides, and no antibiotics or growth hormones. The result is a bird with great flavor, tenderness, and a 25 percent lower fat content than standard commercially raised turkeys.
We will be giving away 12- to 14-pound organic free-range birds for the duration of the contest. Contest is open only to participants in the continental U.S. Details after the jump.
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Posted by Gina DePalma, November 12, 2009 at 1:50 PM
Gina is back in Italy for an overdue vacanza, so for the next few weeks, Seriously Italian is morphing back into Snapshots from Italy as she shares with you some of her favorite food outings.
[Photographs: Gina DePalma]
I've begun my trip with a visit to the province of Cosenza in Calabria, the southern "foot" of Italy's boot. My mother's family is based here, and it is a place I have been hearing and dreaming about since I was a tot. Seeing the town where my grandparents were born and married and where my mother spent a portion of her childhood was emotion-packed for sure; the journey was made even more meaningful by the staggeringly good food. At meal after meal, my own deep food memories of childhood were stirred in a way that was delightful and unexpected.
I've been savoring the taste of the Calabrian table for as long as I can remember. My mother is a fantastic cook, as were both of my grandparents, and together they remained faithful to the cherished recipes of their corner of Italy, teaching me to love them with the same amount of pride and passion. I traveled to Calabria to fully grasp the source of that pride. The roots lie in the ingredients, typical local products that are grown and produced in here that make the cooking deliciously rich and varied. Calabria is a food paradise, and I can state with absolute certainty that its cuisine stands tall alongside—and even surpasses—that of Italy's more popular northern regions.
Here is my quick, top ten primer that scratches the surface of Calabria's bounty, an introduction that is purely subjective, coming at you straight from my heart, and the heart of the Cosenza province:
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 12, 2009 at 12:45 PM
Kids Eat For is a database of restaurants that offer free meals or specials for kids. Use it to help you figure out where to save money with your family—or where to avoid being surrounded by kids. It's also available as an iPhone and Android app. [via Neatorama]
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 12, 2009 at 12:00 PM
This week, Dan Delaney of VendrTV visits legendary lobster roll stand Red's Eats in Wiscasset, Maine. The meat isn't mixed with mayonnaise or celery like other lobster rolls, but simply piled high onto a buttered, grilled roll, with melted butter on the side. They also serve crab rolls, fried haddock, fried clams, and burgers. Watch the video after the jump.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 12, 2009 at 11:30 AM
[Photograph: Robyn Lee]
Eating at a buffet isn't as simple as picking whatever you want from the steaming trays and piling them onto your plate. As Eating the Road's All-Inclusive All-You-Can-Eat Buffet Guide shows, there's much, much more. His frighteningly comprehensive guide covers eight aspects of buffet dining—Types of Buffets, Objective, Preparation, Location, Pre-meal Setup, Strategy, Etiquette, and Exit Strategy and Post Game—to ensure that you get the most out of your buffet dollars and fully recuperate from a meal that will probably tax your digestive system within an inch of its life. Time to break out those antacids.
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Posted by Nikki Goldstein, November 12, 2009 at 8:30 AM
[Photo: josephjoseph.com]
For years, my mom and I made our Thanksgiving mashed potatoes with two forks as our smashing tools. I always figured that the amount of work we put into them was what resulted in them being ridiculously delicious, but I now know otherwise. And the good news is that I've found the best masher to get the perfect taters in minutes flat—no elbow grease necessary.
The Joseph Joseph Pump-Action Potato Smasher ($15.95 at amazon.com) starts out by having an awesome name and the brand's signature cool aesthetic, which give it automatic kudos in my book. But it actually boasts a really innovative design that out-performs its rivals. The biggest difference is in how the thing works: Rather than a metal squiggle that attacks spuds by brute force, this one uses a clever spring and trap design instead. The round bottom functions as the trap, locking chunks in place and allowing the pump action to quickly and effectively smash the potatoes into smooth, smooth oblivion.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, November 12, 2009 at 6:00 AM
Play this video for "The Vietnamese Baguette Song" (music and lyrics, Rob Findel; pencil, Daniel Raid; photos, Springy and Phuong Nguyen) and you'll have "banh ... banh ... banh, mi mi mi mi" in your head the rest of the day. Or at least until noon, when you go grab a banh mi sandwich. Video, after the jump. [via @LAburgergirl]
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 11, 2009 at 9:00 PM
[Photographs: bravotv.com]
Tonight at 10 p.m. ET, come join us as we watch the eleventh episode of Top Chef Las Vegas, where cheftestants will have to whip out breakfast in bed for a bathrobe-clad Padma and guest judge Nigella Lawson. For the elimination challenge, the chefs will concoct Vegas casino-themed dishes. Michael Voltaggio gets New York New York and his brother Bryan gets Mandalay Bay (and feels especially inspired by their shark reef exhibit, yikes). Jump in the comment thread as this episode unfolds.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 11, 2009 at 7:30 PM
The liberal's kitchen? [Illustration: Hunch]
Hunch's report on How Food Preferences Vary by Political Ideology shows some differences between what foods conservatives and liberals prefer. Hunch summarize the results in their blog, such as that conservatives prefer homey, comfort foods and are more likely than liberals to eat fast food, while liberals are more likely to eat healthy or vegetarian alternatives. When liberals do eat fast food, they tend to prefer specialty, regional chains. Of course, there's also common ground: both sides agree that bacon double cheeseburgers are delicious, and they both like hot dogs.
How does your your political ideology fit with these results? (It's worth noting that the sampling size of liberals was larger than conservatives; out of over 64,000 Hunch users, 15% labeled themselves as "conservative," and 54% as "liberal.")
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Posted by Caroline Russock, November 11, 2009 at 7:00 PM
[Photograph: Sage Trifle]
Last week we asked you to travel back in time to recreate some of your favorite dated recipes. This challenge was a scary one and not everyone was ready to break out those cream of mushroom soup cans and pineapple slices. Some of you shared fond (and not so fond) childhood food memories and some brave souls broke out those yellowing cookbooks to cook up some classics from times gone by. Here are some of our dustiest favorites:
Jilly's mom made a dish that she considered to be the height of elegance, it consisted of a round roast of beef coated in a can of cream of mushroom soup, some HP Sauce, and an entire packet of onion soup mix. The whole mess was roasted in the oven to an appealing shade of grey. Oh, how times have changed.
TheKitchenWitch brought back memories of childhood by recreating this aptly named Shipwreck Casserole. Apparently this was TheKitchenWitch's sister's favorite birthday meal and it tasted like a shipwreck.
In an attempt to be healthy, sorahatch cooked up a batch of lentil soup from a 1975 cookbook. Thanks to some powdered milk, the soup was nice and creamy. According to sorahatch, "There's just something about a cocktail of corn syrup solids, sodium saseinate, dipotassium phosphate, and propylene glycol monosterate that just hits the spot. Sometimes."
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- Loner Shopping: How to buy groceries when you're eating solo. [WashPost]
- 172 T-Day Recipes: A roundup from the November 2009 food mags. [TBW]
- Mario Batali's Voice: He makes his big screen debut as a rabbit (wearing orange Crocs) in the soon-to-open Fantastic Mr. Fox. [WSJ]
- The Crustmaster: Barack Obama's nickname for his pastry chef. [FOX]
- Gordon Ramsay's New Resto: Castel Monastero in rural Tuscany. [CST]
- Cookie Slingshot: 25 Chicago students arrested for food fight. [NYT]
- Best Food Books of 09: Congrats to our very own Almost Meatless duo Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond! [Publisher's Weekly]
- Buttermilk Truck: Mmm, it launches in L.A. tomorrow: red velvet pancakes, Hawaiian bread French toast sticks, and cake doughnuts. [LAist]
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 11, 2009 at 4:00 PM
"The two bageleries are only a few blocks apart so picking one doesn't usually involve convenience—it's about loyalties."
[Photographs: Erin Zimmer]
Montrealers have a lot of pride in the their bagels. Plus in a French accent, the word just sounds better: bay-gal. Depending on who you ask, "the best" are either from Fairmount or St-Viateur, both of which sell them fresh 24 hours a day. Before touching on the rivalry, let's define the Montreal bagel.
What's All the Fuss?
Compared to the New York-style bagel—a bulbous bread monster—these are smaller, less chewy, and sweeter, thanks to some honey or malt syrup. The bagels are hand-rolled then bathe in sweetened boiling water, and finally baked in a big wood-fired oven. Because of the erratic flames inside, some come out a golden shade while others are a snowier white. The oven is a huge factor in the awesomeness. Some cities prohibit wood-burning ovens due to fire hazards, but thankfully Montreal has a loosier-goosier policy.
Good luck trying to find an everything bagel in Montreal. Instead, the most popular flavor is sesame, and they pour on the seeds real good. While both bagelries sell about 20 flavors total (like poppy seed and cinnamon-raisin) the sesames make up 70 percent of sales.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 11, 2009 at 12:00 PM
On wacky cooking show Nyam Nyam, host Nari Kye teaches you about kimchi—how it's traditionally made in Korea, and how to make a quicker version at home with a special ingredient. Watch the video after the jump.
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Posted by Lee Zalben, November 11, 2009 at 9:00 AM
Note: Lee Zalben, a.k.a. "the Peanut Butter Guy" is the creator of the Peanut Butter & Co., a New York sandwich shop with a national line of nut butters. Every week he chimes in with some nuttiness.
[Photograph: Lee Zalben]
Peanut butter and pumpkin. The two sound nice together in theory, but how do they taste?
I've made peanut butter pumpkin pies and a peanut-pumpkin seed brittle before—both of which were delicious. Everyone always expects The Peanut Butter Guy to have some kind of peanut-inspired dish on his holiday table.
This year I wanted to try to steer things in a more savory direction so I thought about soup. I've prepared African peanut soup before using a tomato and sweet potato base, so a peanut and pumpkin soup seemed like a natural extension of that recipe.
Usually I do most of my cooking and baking from scratch. I like to get my hands dirty with raw ingredients. But in this case, I will confess—I use the pumpkin from a can.
I've never roasted fresh pumpkin to make my own puree before. The stuff in a can is pretty good and it just seems like a lot of work to start with fresh pumpkin, even for a "from scratch" guy like me. But this recipe I go one step further. I'm not just using canned pumpkin, I'm using canned pumpkin pie filling. Pre-sweetened and pre-spiced, I made this decision for a few reasons.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 11, 2009 at 7:30 AM
[Photograph: The Kitchn]
The Kitchn shares a neat tip on making milky foaminess for your morning coffee without investing in any fancy contraptions. All you need is a jar and a microwave. Pour the amount of milk you'll want in your coffee into the jar, put the top on, shake it up real good for 30 seconds, remove the lid, microwave this for 30 seconds, and voila. Two-percent milk does the trick or be more indulgent with cream or half-and-half.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 10, 2009 at 8:00 PM
Alton Brown would not approve of this. ©iStockphoto.com/MentalArt
First order of business: stuffing is what goes into the bird and dressing is cooked separately, usually in a casserole dish.
Alton Brown is not against dressing, the mandatory Thanksgiving side of bready, herb-flecked goodness. He is against stuffing. A quote from his new book Good Eats: The Early Years:
When it comes to turkey, Stuffing Is Evil. That's because stuffing goes into the middle of the bird and is extremely porous. That means that as the turkey around it cooks, juices that may contain salmonella bacteria soak into the stuffing, which then must be cooked to a minimum of 165°F in order to be safe. Getting the stuffing to this temperature usually means overcooking the turkey.
The way I see it, cooking stuffing inside a turkey turns the turkey into a rather costly seal-a-meal bag. If you're a stuffing fan, I suggest cooking it separately (in which case it's "dressing," not stuffing) and inserting it into the bird while it rests. Odds are no one will notice the difference.
My family always went the dressing route, but then again, we called it "stuffing." Using the proper terminology can lead to confusion since some people hear dressing and just picture a big bottle of Ranch—and a pan of that coming out of the oven would be gross.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 10, 2009 at 3:15 PM
Because turkey isn't the only protein on people's Thanksgiving tables, this year Jones Soda is offering the vegetarian-friendly Tofurky and Gravy Soda as part of their limited edition gift pack ($11.99). The pack comes with three bottles of the special Tofurky soda along with three bottles of more palatable flavors (black cherry, pomegranate, and vanilla bean), and a Tofurky lunch box. For each case sold, Jones Soda will donate $1 to the Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS). [via BevNET]
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Posted by Adam Kuban, November 10, 2009 at 2:00 PM
If you've been following along with Food 52's Tournament of Cookbooks (aka "The Piglet"), you'll be pleased to know that the grand champion has been chosen. Final-round judge Nora Ephron calls it for Francis Mallman and Peter Kaminsky's Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way. Sure the book has some problems:
Many of the fires in Seven Fires can be set in the wilds of Argentina or, presumably, on a finca, but they cannot be set on driveways, patios or the back lawn. So where is one to set them? I have no idea. And many of the recipes that are meant to be cooked over fire don't contain alternative cooking suggestions. There's a wildly exciting lamb recipe that's cooked in a wheelbarrow. In a wheelbarrow.
But Ephron loves it anyway:
... Seven Fires has got all sorts of things wrong with it, but it sings. It's full of wonderful recipes and wonderful ideas. And perhaps, in the next printing, the authors will tell us what to do about the wheelbarrow.
Get to Know 'Seven Fires'
We featured Seven Fires as the Cook the Book series for the week of June 15, 2009. Here are the recipes we excerpted:
Empanadas Mendocinas
Braided Beef with Anchovies and Olives
Omelet Gramajo
Burnt Ricotta Salata, Tomatoes, and Olives
Peached Pork
Beef and Potato Pie
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 10, 2009 at 12:30 PM
In honor of Sesame Street's 40th anniversary, Ella Morton of Rocketboom chats with Cookie Monster to talk about his diet, the origin of om nom nom nom nom, and his cookie-eating method. Video, after the jump.
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Serious Beer columnist Maggie Hoffman tosses some arugula with roasted pears, blue cheese, and a homemade walnut-vinaigrette (she says bacon wouldn't hurt either) for a tasty salad on her blog, Pithy and Cleaver.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, November 10, 2009 at 6:00 AM
[Photographs: Adam Kuban]
Matt's Big Breakfast
801 North 1st Street, Phoenix AZ 85004 (at East McKinley; map); 602-254-1074; mattsbigbreakfast.com
My recent pizza tour of the West Coast included a quick, 22-hour stop in Phoenix, where, before leaving town, I visited Matt's Big Breakfast.
The eponymous owner is Matt Pool, who started this popular breakfast spot shortly after leaving Bar Bianco. Bar Bianco is the watering hole that pizzaman Chris Bianco opened next door to his legendary Pizzeria Bianco, where the thinking has always been use only the best ingredients and prepare them in a simple manner that lets them shine on their own. Unsurprisingly, Pool learned this lesson well and employs the same philosophy at Big Breakfast.
So along with a few unexpected twists (a soppressata scramble, a pork rib chop), you'll find comfort-breakfast staples: bacon and eggs, hash browns, home fries, waffles, and omelets. Oh, and griddlecakes, which is what I ended up ordering after reading about them on PHX Rail Food.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 9, 2009 at 7:30 PM
With fried chicken, bacon, and other fatty comfort foods feeling a renaissance, it makes sense that mayo would jump on board too. Nostalgia sells, and Hellmann's, perhaps the king of the mayo brands, is capitalizing on that.
As Ad Week points out, their recent ads recall the good ol' days of meat and potatoes and so-called "real food," which includes the gloopy amalgam of eggs, oil, and vinegar. Even Bobby Flay is appearing in Hellmann's ads this holiday season, touting it as an essential part of the Thanksgiving spread, making mashed potatoes mashier and apple-cranberry crisps gooier.
Cheeseburger man Kevin Pang of the Chicago Tribune recently called it the underrated condiment and John Kessler of the Atlanta Journal Constitution pronounced Hellmann's the winner of a mayo taste-test, noting the emotional attachments people have with regional brands.
Yikes. As a mayo hater, this makes me a little nervous. Will it be harder to avoid as more chefs toy with esoteric mayos and home cooks sneak it into dishes?
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- Rusty Pans: Is that from an upscale cookware store or the garbage bin? [TFS]
- Hot Dog-iversary: Pink's Hot Dogs in L.A. celebrates 70 years. [FFM]
- Not a Taco Truck: It's the Arcelia Taco Bus in Houston. [Eating Our Words]
- One Dolla: McDonald's may add a $1 breakfast menu in January. [WSJ]
- Vegetarian Parenting: What if the kids are curious about chicken nuggets? [LAT]
- Book Tour Snapshots: Pioneer Woman is only a third of the way through. [PW]
- DIY Pumpkin Pie Spice: The cinnamon to ginger to nutmeg ratio is 6:4:1. [YS]
- Why Arby's Sucks: Nobody seems to like the $5 roast beef sandwiches. [Slate]
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Posted by Gordon Mark, November 9, 2009 at 6:00 PM
With all the channels on broadcast TV and cable—and the inevitable episode repeats—it's hard to sort out what's new or worthwhile. Let us sort it out for you so you don't miss anything worth watching. Times may vary with region; check your local listings for exact hour and channels.
Monday (November 9)
Good Eats: "Pantry Raid XII: Turning Japanese." Alton highlights various Japanese ingredients. 8 p.m. ET, Food Network
Cake Boss: "A Battleship, Ballet & Burning!" Buddy and his team create a huge cake for the US Air Force and a dance-themed cake. 10 p.m. ET, TLC
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (warning, a video plays automatically on site): "Diners Times Three." Guy goes to three unique diners across the country: a diner in Santa Cruz, California, that combines Vietnamese cooking with diner food; a local favorite in Boston; and a diner in Norman, Oklahoma, that serves chili on everything. 10 p.m. ET, Food Network
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Do you fancy yourself a charming, camera-happy, good cook? Well then Bravo wants to meet you. To apply for Top Chef's seventh season, click here [pdf]. The application deadline is December 4. Send in your forms and video or bring them to one of the open casting calls coming up. You still have time to make it to Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, or Portland.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 9, 2009 at 5:15 PM
Note: Over the weekend I visited Montreal and thanks to Montreal food blogger Katerine, forgot what it felt like to be hungry. Stay tuned this week for my snapshots from Montreal.
[Photographs: Erin Zimmer]
Calling a pastry "buttery" seems a little redundant, but the Kouign Amann, is like a croissant multiplied by a stick of butter. Originally from the French region of Bretagne (where it actually translates as "butter cake"), it has that delicate layer thing happening inside kind of like babka, topped with a golden crackly sugar shell.
At Patisserie Kouign Amann in the Plateau neighborhood of Montreal, they make warm batches of the namesake pastry all day long. The recipe sounds simple enough: a round of dough with gobs of buttery sugar water on top. But the lady at the register insisted that "people always seem to mess it up at home, which is why they come here."
I don't know what it was about this pastry—the ingredients aren't crazy complex—but I had to take another bite. And another. The pastry sheets inside stay moist while the outside crunch is like the tappable top part of creme brulee. After the jump, take a look at how it's made.
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Cook the Book: New Classic Family Dinners: quack, rebeccadiamond, Ron Manley, Monelle, and lucylucy. Winners have been notified by email and also appear on our Contest Winners page. Thanks to all who entered.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 9, 2009 at 3:00 PM
"Everyone likes Mexican food and everyone likes Chinese food, so why not combine forces?"
[Flickr: R. E. ~]
Name: Don Chow Tacos
Vendors: Dominic Lau and Lawrence Lie.
What do you sell? Chinese-Mexican fusion
Twitter: @donchowtacos
Location and hours: For now, Thursday through Saturday from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., but we are looking to expand.
Tacos. [Flickr: R. E. ~]
How long have you been street fooding? About eight months.
How has Twitter affected business? Twitter is definitely a great communication tool that's changed the way people communicate—but the food is still the most important part. It's safe to say that Twitter has helped us attract a tech-savvy audience who can know exactly when and where we are at a moment's notice.
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Posted by Caroline Russock, November 9, 2009 at 12:30 PM
Sometimes it seems like no cuisine is as underappreciated as Greek cuisine. It's a food culture with a long and glorious history of fresh Mediterranean ingredients, but why has it been relegated to the ranks of soggy spanakopita and wilted Greek salads, heavy with greying black olives and stinky feta?
Psilakis started in the front of the house, waiting tables in a T.G.I. Friday's.
This cuisine is crying out for a champion and Michael Psilakis is just the man for the job. Raised in a food-focused first generation Greek-American family in Long Island, New York, Psilakis was a late bloomer in the restaurant world. Unlike most chefs, Psilakis started in the front of the house, waiting tables in a T.G.I. Friday's. What started as a quick way to save for law school turned into a career in hospitality.
Over the next few years, he went from waiting tables to managing and owning restaurants. One day Psilakis found himself at the helm of an Italian restaurant with his head chef nowhere to be found. He traded in his front-of-the-house suit for chef's whites and, recalling the Greek recipes he grew up with, he transitioned from manager to chef-owner.
How to Roast a Lamb is Psilakis' culinary scrapbook, complete with photos of family and food alike. These are the plates that Psilakis' mom threw together for weeknight dinners, the meals that fed the entire Psilakis clan on special occasions, and the dishes that helped make Kefi and Anthos the restaurants they are today.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 9, 2009 at 12:00 PM
What is water? According to Look Around You, it's impossible to describe, but they carry out a few highly controlled experiments to unlock the mysteries behind this element, H-twenty. Watch this video after the jump.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 9, 2009 at 11:45 AM
See it bigger here » [Photographs: gregnog.com]
Captain Yaar is a comic about a pirate who doesn't do much pirating. Instead he dreams up fanciful doughnut sandwich concoctions, only to have his little bird sidekick smack some sense into him. [via janelle]
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 9, 2009 at 10:30 AM
There's more to Denver food culture than the Denver omelet. The city is home to some of the country's best Mexican food, microbreweries galore, and a handful of fast-casual chains (cough, Chipotle) got their start here. While Denverites have jumped on board many of the popular national trends like gastropubs, noodle bars, and using more locally sourced ingredients, they've also held onto some uniquely Denver foodisms.
Fast-Casual
Chipotle. [Flickr: LinksmanJD]
Denver is kind of the motherland of fast-casual food concepts. Chipotle started here, and the burrito chain continues to expand and challenge the idea of "fast-food," installing solar panels and sourcing sustainably-raised beef and vegetables from farmers.
Bacon cheeseburger with barbecue sauce from Smashburger. [Flickr: paulswansen]
Smashburger is another Colorado chain that has spread its wings to Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, and beyond. Following the Chipotle-style business model, it's a roll-right-up and sit-yourself-down place minus the fluorescent heat lamps and frozen patties. The burgers are made fresh from 100% Angus beef and are smashed between "artisan" buns (egg, chipotle, or multi-grain). The signature Smashfries are spiked with rosemary and garlic. Noodles & Company is another chain and now has over a hundred outlets. Surprise, surprise, they sell noodles—linguine, elbows, and other forms of squiggly pasta, with multiple sauce options.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 9, 2009 at 9:00 AM
"I quit my job and we moved to a battered, neglected farm in Vermont to start from the ground up."
Jennifer (center) with her son Bradford and husband Kyle. [Photographs: Geoff Hansen]
Name: Jennifer Megyesi (pronounced Ma-jess-sea)
Farm: Fat Rooster Farm, named after a pet rooster that was intended as a meatbird, but I didn't have the heart to do him in.
How many acres? We (my husband Kyle and I) own 20 acres and use another 165 for haying and pasturing sheep and cows.
Two barred silver cockerels.
Your crew: We are the full-time farmers, though we each have part-time jobs off the farm. During the growing season (March through November) we have two or sometimes up to four apprentices who, for the most part, come to us without farming experience. They receive a small stipend, room and board, and lots of hands-on farming experience. We also have a nine year-old son.
The crew works from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and on Saturdays, 6 am to 2 pm. Sunday is our day off. During haying, all set hours are off—we work until the hay's in the barn. For me and Kyle, there's really no official day off.
What you grow: About 200 varieties of vegetables and beef, pork, lamb, turkey, chicken, sometimes duck and guinea hen. We specialize in heirloom varieties of tomatoes and heritage breeds of chickens.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 9, 2009 at 7:30 AM
This savory pannekoek almost resembles a pizza. [Flickr: Greta B.]
It's important to know all the members of the pancake family. Pannekoeken are Dutch-style pancakes that, like crepes, can go the sweet or savory route, but have a little more heft since they're filled with anything from mushrooms and bacon to Gouda and apple slices. It's kind of like an omelette except with a pancake foundation. They're also enjoyed plain with just some butter and sugar or stroop (syrup) on top.
The San Francisco Chronicle had a nice profile on the anytime-meal yesterday. The recipe for the plain pannekoek is easy, just an eggs-milk-flour-salt batter, and the fillings are up to you.
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Posted by Carey Jones, November 8, 2009 at 5:00 PM
We like this kind of fake turkey. The tofu kind, not so much.Photograph from JP Puerta on Flickr
It's almost Thanksgiving time, and my family has started to plan out our menu. But there's one thing we haven't figured out: a main dish that my younger brother, a vegan, can enjoy, while the rest of us chow down on turkey. Sure, we'll make the sweet potatoes without butter, the Brussels sprouts without bacon. (At least, some of them.) I might do a special take-out run for him; there are great, inexpensive Mediterranean and Japanese options within a few blocks. But eating cucumber sushi alongside mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie just doesn't seem right.
Vegetarians out there, or those cooking for one: What's your veggie-friendly Thanksgiving plan? Do you have a meatless holiday tradition? Or are the Thanksgiving sides enough?
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Posted by Claire Sellers, November 8, 2009 at 1:00 PM
[Photo: Brian Yarvin]
The State's Best Sichuan: After a tip from a fellow food enthusiast, Brian Yarvin chows down on the offerings at Dragon Palace in Edison, New Jersey.
A Comedy of Errors: Lee Anne Shaffer gives us a Taiwanese burger roundup.
A Pizza Pub: Built in an old converted garage in 1957, Bill's Pizza and Pub located in the suburbs of Chicago serves thin-crust pizza and the daring double-decker style.
Not Your Typical Chinese Restaurant: Ed Levine samples several of the 237 items on the menu at Amazing 66 located in Manhattan's Chinatown.
A Secret Indulgence: The Boston Speed Dog was named "Top Dog In America by the Wall Street Journal last year, escalating this Boston parking lot dog stand to new heights.
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Posted by Claire Sellers, November 7, 2009 at 3:00 PM
[Photo: Kerry Saretsky]
Choose Chouquettes: Kerry Saretsky proves that these classic French pastries chouquettes are surprisingly simple and unsurprisingly delicious.
A Tasty Secret: Mashed potatoes are just about as basic as it gets, but there is a huge difference between a good mashed potato and an amazing mashed potato.
Trick or Treat Remix: This week, Cakespy creates a recipe that makes use of all that Halloween candy you have lying around with this leftover Halloween candy pie.
The Power of Fat: Always delivering the unexpected offal delight, Chichi Wang creates a confit of pork tounge with a warm lentil salad.
A Patty of Pig: Ground pork, bacon, and standard Asian flavors like chili, ginger, and scallions come together in these pork patties.
My Way or the Highway: Joy Manning introduces her preferred method of cooking simple black beans and rice.
Purée Perfection: Michael Natkin dishes out this recipe for tahini, a blend of sesame seeds, garlic, and lemon juice—not to be confused with hummus.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 7, 2009 at 1:00 PM
"I love lunch / It's half the way to dinner / I love lunch / If that's a sin then I'm a sinner." If you love lunch so much that you feel the urge to spontaneously burst into song before eating, you'll appreciate this performance by Improv Everywhere, filmed at the Trump Tower atrium for a segment on The Today Show. Watch the video after the jump.
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Posted by Claire Sellers, November 7, 2009 at 11:00 AM
[Flickr: Barbara L. Hansen]
No other vegetable that says "fall" quite like the sweet potato. We all have our favorite recipes, and love debating which aunt's sweet potato casserole is the best. I still follow my Aunt Margaret's recipe, though with the addition and omission of several ingredients. Every time time I make the sugary, marshmallow topped casserole, my dad always says, "It tastes just like Margaret's"—bringing me instant culinary satisfaction. There is something nostalgic about the sweet potato that makes it taste that much better.
Some seasonal sweet potato recipes, after the jump.
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- Leftover Bread: Five things to do with leftover bread. [The Kitchn]
- Obesity: It causes over 100,000 cases of cancer a year in the US. [Reuters]
- Glut: People love this over 30-year-old natural foods store in Mount Ranier. [WP]
- Michelin Closing: Michelin-starred restaurant in England temporarily closes due to outbreak of vomiting and diarrhea. [The Independent]
- Disneyland of Grocery Stores: New huge grocery store Market District is now open in Western Pennsylvania. [Reuters]
- Festivals: A list of food fests around the country this week. [Epi-Log]
- Kids' Menus: What dishes should go on kids' menus? [BG]
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Posted by Gordon Mark, November 6, 2009 at 5:30 PM
With all the channels on broadcast TV and cable--and the inevitable episode repeats—it's hard to sort out what's new or worthwhile. Let us sort it out for you so you don't miss anything worth watching. Times and episodes may vary with region (especially PBS shows); check your local listings for exact hour and channels.
Saturday (November 7)
Secrets of a Restaurant Chef (warning, a video plays automatically on site): "The Secret to Fish and Chips." Recipes for beer batter fish and chips, tartar sauce, and red cabbage slaw. 10:30 a.m. ET, Food Network
5 Ingredient Fix: "Southern Soiree in the City." Claire makes blackened catfish and on the side, Grandma Moore's creamed corn with green tomato and Vidalia onion gratin. (repeat) 12:30 a.m. ET, Food Network
Giada at Home (warning, a video plays automatically on site): "Giada's Kidz Kitchen." Giada teaches kids how to cook a simple meal. 1 p.m. ET, Food Network
Barefoot Contessa (warning, a video plays automatically on site): "Pizza Party." Pizza recipes for kids and adults. (repeat) 1:30 p.m. ET, Food Network
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 6, 2009 at 4:45 PM
[Photographs: Chris Terry]
If you're looking for food photography inspiration, check out Design*Sponge's latest weekly cookbook review where Kristina Gill focuses on three new cookbooks with great food photography: The Songs of Sapa by Luke Nguyen, photography by Suzanna Boyd and Alan Benson; Fish by Mitch Tonks, photography by Chris Terry; and Cooking with Friends by Gordon Ramsay, photography by Ditte Isager. What sets these cookbooks apart, she says, is that they deliver more than recipes: "They deliver an entire food experience, from the location in which the food is enjoyed, to the environ in which the food is gathered, prepared, and served."
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 6, 2009 at 3:30 PM
One of the best gifts I've probably ever given a friend was adopting a manatee in her name through the Save the Manatee Club. She received an actual photo of Brutus, her new sea cow bundle of joy, his bio, and a super official certificate. [Ed. note: this was very much inspired by manatee enthusiast Robyn.]
Our weekend giveaway has nothing to do with manatees but it's another neat opportunity to support an adoptive cause. Nudo is a family-run co-operative of olive groves around a small hilltop village in the Marche region of Italy. Through this one-year adoption ($150), you get to follow the progress of your own tree—the olive variety is up to you—and of course get some of the quality olive oil.
The oil deliveries will be spread out over 2010: four 500ml tins of first cold press extra virgin olive oil in the spring and three 250ml tins of infused extra virgin olive oil (like lemon, chile, or orange) in the fall. Not only do you get to douse salads and dunk bread in the tasty stuff but support an Italian family farmer who grew those olives.
To enter to win, just tell us your favorite type of olive. And even if you don't win, the adoption still makes a great holiday gift.
Contest will end and comments will close at 3 p.m. ET, Monday, November 9, 2009. One entry per community member. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Comments are Closed.
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Posted by Hawk Krall, November 6, 2009 at 2:45 PM
"The dogs are your standard Deitz & Watson, but what really makes them stand out is the steamed buns and homemade pepper hash."
Tucked away in a corner of South Philadelphia, right around the corner from Philip's, one of my favorite cheesesteak joints, lies what just might be Philly's best kept hot dog secret. Hollyeats.com calls it the best hot dog in Philadelphia, and I think I might agree.
I parked in a nearby half-abandoned strip mall near a guy selling bootleg Phillies t-shirts, found a battered newsstand and a cart selling fish sandwiches, but that couldn't be it. Maybe this legendary hot dog man had disappeared, or simply went home at 2 p.m. or "when the bread runs out" like many of Philly's working class lunch spots.
Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a green truck with about 25 people lined up beside it and knew that this was the spot. Looks like a custom-built rig he's got going on—a pickup truck with a gleaming silver food service station built onto the back, serving hot dogs and sausages from steam trays.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 6, 2009 at 2:15 PM
[Photograph: Herbivoracious]
It's called Turkey Day not Other Non-Turkey Stuff Day for a reason. Vegetarians are usually stuck piling on the sides on Thanksgiving, which isn't the worst thing in the world, but they could use some entrees with a little more heft. This photo of squash stuffed with orzo in a sage brown butter sauce from our Seriously Meatless man Michael Natkin is a great example of a turkey alternative—and we're not talking the turkey-flavored proteins. Here are some others, and feel free to chime in with your ideas.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 6, 2009 at 12:00 PM
"Everybody should have a go-to pie dough or tart dough that they do in their sleep," says Pim Techamuanvivit (aka Chez Pim), who recently came out with a cookbook called The Foodie Handbook. Here she shows us her go-to, which really does look ridiculously easy.
Making a pie crust from scratch always sounds intimidating but this approach is more like playing with Play Doh that happens to turn into a deliciously flaky, buttery crust. (And you can do it straight on the countertop. No bowl required.) Pim finishes it off with frangipagne (she blends the almonds herself, avoiding almond meal) and fruit for a rustic galette. Become a pie dough expert in four minutes, after the jump.
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Peter Sallis, the voice of the cheese-loving professor Wallace in the British animated series Wallace and Gromit, admitted he actually doesn't care for cheese. "I don't even know if I've ever eaten Wensleydale cheese," he told the Telegraph, referring to his clay-sculpted alter ego's favorite type.
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Posted by J. Kenji López-Alt, November 6, 2009 at 9:45 AM
It's time for another round of The Food Lab. Got a suggestion for an upcoming topic? Email Kenji here, and he'll do his best to answer your queries in a future post.
[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]
If my mom's roasting skills are representative of the nation's, then I'll assume we've all experienced dry turkey. I'm not talking the kind that frays around the edges as soon as a carving knife comes close to it or that instantly turns to sawdust when it hits your tongue—I'm talking the kind that is just good enough that you can still smile and say nice things during dinner, but just bad enough that you wonder why the pilgrims couldn't have eaten prime rib during that first fall.
The problem, as we all know, is with overcooking. So first, a quick look at what happens to turkey (and other meats) as it cooks.
- Under 120°F (48.9°C): The meat is still considered raw. Muscle cells are bundled up and aligned in long, straight cable-like fibrils wrapped in a sheath of elastic connective tissues, which is what gives meat it's "grain."
- At 120°F: The protein myosin, begins to coagulate, forcing some liquid out of the muscle cells, which then collects within the protein sheath.
- At 140°F (60°C): The remaining proteins within the muscle cells coagulate, forcing all of the liquid out of the cells, and into the protein sheath. The coagulated proteins turn the meat firm and opaque.
- At 150°F (65.6 °C): The proteins in the sheath itself (mainly collagen) rapidly coagulate and contract. Like squeezing a tube of toothpaste, all the water what was forced out of the cells and has collected within the sheath, is now squeezed out of the meat completely. Congratulations, your turkey is overcooked.
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Posted by Ed Levine, November 6, 2009 at 8:30 AM
"Are the Coke folks trying to confuse us as they phase out Caffeine-Free Diet Coke?"
Though I have for the most part weaned myself off diet sodas, every once in awhile I get a serious hankering for a cold, crisp, ever-so-satisfying 20-ounce bottles of either Fresca or Caffeine-Free Diet Coke.
Is it just wishful thinking on my part, or is Fresca making a comeback? On two Delta flights this past weekend the flight attendants came down the aisle offering Fresca as one of the soft drink options. Thank you, Delta!
But even though Delta is based in Atlanta, Coke's corporate home (Fresca is also a Coke brand), Caffeine-Free Diet Coke was not being offered. And maybe it's just my paranoia, but I have noticed that CFDC is fast disappearing from deli shelves in New York City.
The conspiracy theorist in me thinks Coke's insidious campaign to stamp out CFDC started with the 20-ounce bottle label redesign. Its formerly distinctive completely brownish gold label has been morphed into a Diet Coke-like mostly silver label with just a few small areas of brownish gold.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 6, 2009 at 7:30 AM
[Photographs: da da da]
Hollowed-out loaves of bread designed by R&E Praspaliauskas are available at dadadastudio.eu for €22 a pair. Or you could find two shoe-sized loaves of bread and make them yourselves (for purposes unbeknown to us). If you need more instruction, here's a video on how to make bread shoes, after the jump.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 5, 2009 at 7:30 PM
Just add filling. And then remove it. [Photograph: Robyn Lee]
Well, not totally by itself. I asked this question because when I eat fruit-filled pies with my mom, she'll forgo the filling, but eat the crust with gusto.
"Why don't you eat the filling?" I asked.
"It's too sweet! I like the crust more."
I apparently need to get or make my mom a pie with filling that isn't swimming in sugar. She isn't content with eating a crust on its own; she likes it to have that slick of sweetness from the gooey filling. She'll buy a pie from a reputable bakery or supermarket just to eat the goo-enhanced crust.
When I told her that most people like to eat the crust and the filling together, she was surprised. "Am I the weird one?" she asked. I'm not sure how atypical her preference is. Do any of you ignore the filling when you eat a fruit pie?
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- Ad Hoc at Home: Chef Dave Cruz makes chicken from the new restaurant cookbook. [SF Grub Street]
- Beware Canned Foods: A bunch of them have high BPA counts. [NPR]
- Top Cheffers Get Buzzed: Spending the day with Kevin Gillespie and Eli Kirshtein at a winery. [True/Slant]
- Whole Paycheck: Whole Foods reports increased revenue. [WSJ]
- Peerless Coffee: One of the Bay Area's oldest and least-known-about coffee companies. [SFC]
- Butterscotch: The classic pudding's comeback. [Star-Telegram via Epi-Log]
- Caffeinated Mushrooms?: Two UCBerkeley grads are using coffee grounds to grow fancy mushrooms. [ABC]
- 7-Eleven Syrah: The convenience store chain will sell house wine. [MSNBC]
- Baguette Incident: A bird drops some bread down billion-dollar particle accelerator; scientists flip out. [PopSci via Buzzfeed]
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 5, 2009 at 6:00 PM
Each week we round up our favorite posts and recipes from our friends at The Kitchn.
This week, the Kitchn reveals a little secret ingredient for brownies—throw in some pureed black beans! Crazy-sounding, perhaps, but the results are really, really fudgey.
Also on the Kitchn, support for the rutabaga, cheese storage tips, five pumpkin pie recipes, and making pearsauce (one word just like applesauce).
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 5, 2009 at 3:15 PM
[Photographs: Robyn Lee]
We're not big on endorsing frozen pies. Shortcuts are fine for many foods, but something about insta-pie just seems wrong and sad. However, we realize how busy the holidays get and wanted to see if the freezer section was hiding some delicious or at least decent apple pies. We tried six: three of the classics (Marie Callenders, Sara Lee, and Mrs. Smith's) and three less processed, dare we say healthier pies (Vermont Mystic, Amy's, and Wholly Wholsome). There were many scoops of vanilla ice cream involved. The results, after the jump.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 5, 2009 at 2:45 PM
[Photographs: Burnt Lumpia]
The alternative name for tortang talong as "tortured eggplant" (real translation: "eggplant omelet") intrigued me. How is it tortured? Marvin of Burnt Lumpia outlines its creation: It starts with a full-body charring, then the skin is peeled off, the flesh is "mooshed and flattened," and then it's dunked into a egg bath, topped with ground meat, and pan fried to a crisp. Sounds delicious—the eggplant gives itself up for a good cause.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 5, 2009 at 2:00 PM
[Photograph: The Paupered Chef]
Serious Eats contributors Nick Kindelsperger and Blake Royer explain how they made hard cider on the cheap over at The Paupered Chef. They made four batches using two kinds of apple cider and yeast, and found that Whole Foods' apple cider was great for making easy, cheap hard cider: "It's cheap ($6.99), comes in perfectly sized bottles for fermenting, and makes a balanced, refreshing beverage in about 7 to 10 days." Start a batch soon and you'll have a great beverage for Thanksgiving.
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Posted by Leslie Kelly, November 5, 2009 at 1:15 PM
[Photograph: Leslie Kelly]
Darlene Barnes would like author Michael Pollan to walk a mile in her tiny kitchen clogs.
"It's all well and good for Michael Pollan to tell people how they should eat, but it's another to try and make it happen in the real world," she said.
My boss at Alpha Sigma Phi at the University of Washington was in a bit of a snit after a frustrating effort to reel in some domestic, wild shrimp. She had done research and called her sales rep, asking for him to find her some American shrimp.
"At first, he told me the shrimp from Mexico were as good as Louisiana shrimp because they were both caught in the Gulf," she said. "I told him I had been raised in Louisiana and knew better. What am I supposed to do? Call the shrimpers myself?"
In addition to cooking lunch and dinner Monday through Friday for 70 hungry young men, Darlene spends hours on the hunt for quality ingredients. She hounds her sales rep—she's the squeaky wheel that gets greased with the Snake River Farms Kurobuta bacon. It requires tenacity to get the farm to the table via her fraternity kitchen. This year, she redoubled her efforts to use local organic produce, but she had to make at least a half a dozen calls before she found someone who wanted her business.
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Kellogg announced that they would stop marketing Rice Krispies and Cocoa Krispies as immunity-boosting foods for children in light of the attention being paid to swine flu, says Ad Age. Kellogg has been adding antioxidants to the cereals since last year, but don't want to look like they're "preying on fears of the H1N1 virus." (The official Rice Krispies website still shows the claim of boosting immunity.)
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Posted by Nikki Goldstein, November 5, 2009 at 8:30 AM
[Photograph: Amazon.com]
Gadgets that perform multiple functions can be really hit or miss: Either they do a great job of saving space and consolidating expenses, or they under-perform and disappoint. Oddly enough, the Kalorik 4-in-1 Combi Mixer falls somewhere in between. Its four functions—electric whisk, frother, chopper, and immersion blender—all work well enough, but having independent appliances would probably be a better bet for most cooks.
The Kalorik Combi Mixer's spine, so to speak, is the stick that plugs into the wall and connects to the various tools. Though all the attachments have a clear spot on the nicely designed carry-all tray, the stick itself doesn't, which seems like a strange oversight. It takes away from the sleek look and creates clutter, which are two significant cons. My other main gripe is how awkward it was to connect it to the chopper—the parts don't all click into place, so it's almost a balancing act to get everything to line up properly. With that in mind, loading the chopper cup for several consecutive uses gets to be a bit of a chore.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 5, 2009 at 7:30 AM
[Photograph: Dan Jackson]
In his photograph Builders Breakfast, Dan Jackson shows how really, really, really tiny people might eat a fried egg on toast. This photograph is part of a series called "Little Folk," available as prints in Jackon's Etsy shop. (If the concept looks familiar, you have probably seen Minimiam by Akiko Ida and Pierre Javelle.)
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, November 4, 2009 at 8:30 PM
Tonight at 10 p.m. ET, come join us as we watch a special episode of Top Chef, where blast-from-the-past cheftestants from seasons one through five return, coming together like one big happy family. Not!
Old rivals like Ilan and Marcel (season two) look about ready to smack each other and Casey and Carla (season five) confront their "issues." At one point, Fabio (season five) insists that the cameras get turned off. Spicy stuff. Jump into the comment thread as the episode unfolds.
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Posted by Caroline Russock, November 4, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies. [Photograph: Kirbie's Cravings]
Last week's Weekend Cook and Tell challenge was about our favorite gourd, the pumpkin. We asked you to share your favorite pumpkin recipes and the results were truly pumkintastic. Here are some of our favorites:
Inspired by two beautiful pumpkins that she picked up at her local farmers' market, ChristineB made a Thai Spiced Pumpkin Soup topped with pumpkin seeds roasted with raw sugar and sea salt.
Onepot took those adorable mini pumpkins and made them into something both nice to look at and eat. Take a look at these Polenta Stuffed Mini Pumpkins.
One gourd didn't suffice for joyyy, she made pumpkin peanut butter cookies and Roasted Corn Pudding in Acorn Squash from 101 Cookbooks.
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- Thanksgiving 101: Cooking classes all over the country. [Epi-Log]
- Support Souvlaki: Michael Psilakis is changing the image of Greek food. [WP]
- The Tomato Diet: Eat more of them to feel fuller. [DailyMail]
- Black Jack Taco: Taco Bell's new black-shelled crunchy taco. [HC]
- Office Snack Gourmet: Vending machine cuisine transformed. [EMD]
- November Covers: Of the six big food mags, four have photos of turkeys, one has pecan pie, and one has pomegranates. [LAT]
- Pumpkin Pie Bars: Ina Garten's bars multiplied by a pumpkin filling. [IFA]
- How Does Jell-O Work? A scientific explanation on the jiggly stuff. [BG]
- Munchies: A new food video series from Vice. [TFS]
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 4, 2009 at 5:55 PM
[Images: Alphabet Plates]
Alphabet Plates, created by graphic designer (and mom) Laura Paresky Gould, allows you to personalize plates with your little one's name and favorite food from 14 popular choices. Although geared towards kids, there's no reason you can't get a plate plate as a fun gift for a burger or broccoli-loving, postadolescent friend.
Besides food, other designs include sports, monograms, and customizable faces starting at $22 a plate. Personalized placemats in different colors and languages are also available for $18. A portion of the proceeds are donated to the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation. [via swissmiss]
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Posted by tressa eaton, November 4, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Michael Pollan's been making some pretty big waves lately—in the media, at colleges, with farmers, and little tots. Time to check in on what he's been up to and what it all says about the state of green food today.
Drama at Two Universities
In early October, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
downgraded a scheduled Pollan lecture because it received pressure from
David E. Wood, a major university donor who also happens to be chairman of the mega-beef producer, Harris Ranch Beef.
Wood complained in a letter to the university saying that the lecture gave Pollan "an unchallenged forum to promote his stand on conventional agricultural practices." In response to the pressure, Cal Poly turned the solo lecture into a panel event.
Cal Poly wasn't the only university with Pollan hubbub—earlier this summer it was Washington State University. WSU chose Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma as the book of choice for the all freshmen common reading program. Then, citing budget woes (even though 4,000 books had already been purchased) the university chose to suspend the program. However, some sources said it just wasn't so and that the university had caved in to political pressure.
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If you've ever found yourself aimlessly roaming the streets in search of the best places to get chicken wings, download Kluckr for your iPhone. For $0.99 the app will tell you your city's wings locations and rate them based on Heat, Variety, Service, Atmosphere, and Value—just in time for tonight's World Series game.
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We mentioned this in our New York Times roundup today, but it deserves an extra little shout-out. First Lady Michelle Obama will make a guest appearance on Food Network when she challenges Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Emeril Lagasse, and White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford to a special Iron Chef battle. The secret ingredients? Produce grown in the White House garden. The episode will air on Sunday, January 3 at 8 p.m. EST.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 4, 2009 at 11:45 AM
Have you ever wondered how those wire loops get on a whisk? Or never thought you did but now you do? In this video, the web show CUPS (Cooking Up a Story) goes inside the only U.S. manufacturer of whisks.
"Next to a knife, fork, and spoon, I think it's probably one of the most common tools in a home kitchen," said John Merrifield, who runs the factory with his brother. (I'd like to see him debate that with a spatula manufacturer.) Watch the video, after the jump.
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Posted by Andrea Lynn, November 4, 2009 at 10:00 AM
"My baby, who's five, eats pico de gallo that sometimes cleans my sinuses out." —Pioneer Woman
[Flickr: hozae]
I'm always interested to hear people's stories about their paths to spice obsession—or just to tolerance. I think there are generally two ways: spice by immersion and a slow-building tolerance.
Spice By Immersion
My mom was a chilehead before I had even heard of the term. She loved making a batch of chili, adding more habaneros and hot sauce to the pot because she claimed it wasn't spicy enough.
By the time it got to the dinner table—or worse, a few days later—the heat would ignite my childhood palate. It was a good way to get me to drink milk, because I would slurp through glasses of it.
"Is it really that spicy?" my mom would ask. "YES!" was my flame-filled response. It was semi-torture but I learned to take it. By my teenage years, I was piling my pizza high with jalapenos and liberally dousing Sriracha on food. My mom had turned me into a spice addict.
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Posted by Lee Zalben, November 4, 2009 at 9:00 AM
"Boiled peanuts are considered the caviar of the south."
Wes Shannon. [All photographs: Herb Pilcher]
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of spending some time with Wes Shannon, a peanut farmer in Tifton, Georgia. My company Peanut Butter & Co. only uses peanuts grown in the United States, and we try to maintain a tight connection with these farmers.
While I had met Shannon before, this was my first visit to his farm. He took a break from the harvest to talk to me about peanuts and peanut farming. He even let me drive the tractor and dig up some of the peanuts!
How are peanuts grown? Well, we usually plant peanuts in mid-May. The soil is good and warm by then so the seeds germinate and come up quickly and grow well. That puts our harvest in late September or early October. That's usually a drier part of the year, and we need dry weather to plow the peanuts up from the ground.
You mentioned seeds—the seed of the peanut plant is the peanut that we eat, right? That's exactly right. When we harvest the peanuts, we consider them "live" peanuts. If you were to put those back in the ground, you'll get a peanut plant. But of course that changes in the roasting process. You can't plant a roasted peanut and expect it to come up.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 4, 2009 at 7:30 AM
This breakfast-making contraption recently designed by Yuki Suzuki can whip up omelets, butter toast, brew coffee, and squeeze fresh orange juice. It was made out of record players, alarm clocks, and other miscellaneous household items. Though the guy in the video explains the crazy Rube Goldbergian process in Dutch, you really don't need words to appreciate an egg rolling down a slide and paint roller slathering butter onto toast. (And if you do speak Dutch, maybe there's a part about leaving out the bacon?) Watch the video, after the jump.
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Posted by Carey Jones, November 3, 2009 at 7:00 PM
In song: "These are a few of my favorite sandwiches." [Photo: Carey Jones]
We've shown you a few of our favorite sandwiches. We've walked you down the best sandwich block in New York. But we haven't heard from you. There's nothing more lovable than a good sandwich, and we're betting you have a few especially close to your heart.
So tell us: what's your very favorite sandwich?
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- Top Chef: Season 2 winner Ilan Hall's restaurant will reopen in L.A. this Saturday. [LA Times]
- Vale, Vong: Jean-Georges Vongerichten's 17-year-old Vong will close this weekend. [Eater NY]
- Back Scratching: Bloomberg loves Bill's Bar and Burger; B.R. Guest, its owner, endorses Bloomberg in return. [Grub Street]
- Sick City: Elton John contracts E. coli. [Baltimore Sun]
- The Nimans: More on responsibly raised meat. [Atlantic Food]
- Toxic Troubles: BPA, found in a number of canned goods. [Tribune]
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Posted by Carey Jones, November 3, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Borough Market; pigs from Northfield Farms; Celia Brooks Brown. [Photos: Carey Jones]
Borough Market
8 Southwark Street, London, SE1 1TL; map); +44 (0) 20 7407 1002; http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/
Getting There: National Rail/London Underground to London Bridge station; 381, RV1 bus routes; parking located on the corner of Southwark Street and Southwark Bridge Road and on Snowsfields
Hours of Operation: Wholesale Sun.-Fri., 2 a.m. to 8 a.m.; retail Thur., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fri., 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., Sat., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
We've written about Borough Market, once upon a time. But a single post cannot do justice to the absolutely mind-blowing array of farmers, chefs, cheesemongers, butchers, fishers, and purveyors at this incredible emporium of food.
It's a bit much for a visitor to make sense of (or, more to the point, eat!) in a single visit. So after a good wander on my own, I took a tour with London food writer Celia Brooks Brown, recommended by the fantastic folks at Visit London. Currently a writer for the Times (London) and a professional guide, Celia is an undisputed expert on the Borough Market vendors, and a few hours with her got us acquainted with the people behind each incredible stall.
The new-and-improved photo gallery, with a few of Celia's favorite vendors, after the jump.
Carey is over in London thanks to Visit London, the city's official tourist organization, in connection with Virgin Atlantic and the Intercontinental Park Lane.
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Posted by Carey Jones, November 3, 2009 at 2:45 PM
[Photo: Chicago Tribune]
When I was in elementary school, we were all taught the Three Rs: "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." But Chicago public schools are going much farther in their efforts to be environmentally friendly, and helping students to do the same. A great piece in the Chicago Tribune about teaching kids to compost:
Zero-waste initiatives at schools across the Chicago area have students aggressively reducing the garbage they produce and trying to avoid anything not biodegradable. Now they're separating food, determining what can and can't be composted. They do the composting themselves in outdoor bins or with worm composting in the classroom. They're learning how to reuse paper towels and use fewer of them. And they're no longer taking home endless fliers—many schools now post announcements online with "virtual backpacks."
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 3, 2009 at 12:30 PM
When Mr. Bean wants to eat a sandwich in the park, he doesn't half-ass it; he brings all the ingredients with him and constructs it on the spot (even if that involves washing or killing his ingredients), to the befuddlement of the guy he's sitting next to. Watch the video after the jump.
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Posted by Carey Jones, November 3, 2009 at 12:00 PM
The Italian Special from Faicco's Pork Store. "It's like a sunset made of sandwich meats" —EZ. [Photo: Robyn Lee]
It's National Sandwich Day! So designated because November 3 marks the birthday of John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, who popularized everyone's favorite lunch so long ago.
Looking to celebrate? We've rounded up the Best of Serious Eats Sandwich Coverage in honor of the occasion. And if you need a primer, start with Ed's 22 Sandwiches That Will Change Your Life.
New York and Surrounding Area
Sandwich Alley: New York's West Village Block of Sandwich Deliciousness
Some Serious Sandwiches in Manhattan
Top 10 Sandwiches in Brooklyn
Bouchon Bakery's Fluffernutter Sandwich
Xie Xie: An Asian Sandwich Shop (What a Concept)
Roast Beef Sandwich Mondays at Salumeria Biellese
Sandwiches at Saltie
Bklyn Larder: Great Artisanal Market and Deli from the Franny's Pizzeria Owners
Hoagie Haven in Princeton, NJ
New Jersey: Town Hall Deli's Sloppy Joe
Num Pang Sandwich Shop: What's in a Name?
Baoguette, Tasty Banh Mi Sandwiches, Not Tasty Delivery
Salumeria Biellese: The BYOB Hero Review
More cities, and making your own, after the jump.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 3, 2009 at 11:00 AM
[Photograph: Tia Kim]
During her visit to Seoul, South Korea, Serious Eats contributor Tia Kim of Bionic Bites unexpectedly came across a great complimentary Korean breakfast at her hotel, Artnouveau City, that would make me rethink my non-breakfast-eating ways if I had easier access to the same dishes:
Everyday there was junbok jook (전복죽, abalone rice porridge), a huge stone vat of bubbling kimchi jigae (김치찌개, kimchi stew) with pork belly, kim (김, roasted seaweed), rice, and some sort of japchae (잡채, stir-fried noodles with meat and vegetables) or haemul japtang (해물잡탕, seafood and vegetables in a thick soy ginger garlic sauce) with lots of oyster mushrooms, which, by the way, was my favorite. The oyster mushrooms in Korea are amazing.
Rice, kimchi, pork belly, seaweed, noodles, seafood, vegetables—sounds more like the breakfast of champions than Wheaties.
Related
Grocery Ninja: Korean Roasted Seaweed, Kim
In Videos: Korean Kimchi Commercial
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 2, 2009 at 7:30 PM
[Photograph: Robyn Lee]
Since it's never too early to start talking pumpkin pie, here's a question: the milk part. The piemakers over in Talk are split as to what kind of milk should go into the filling. While some recipes skip milk altogether, others range from whole milk to sweetened condensed to evaporated to even coconut milk. Usually the answer has something to do with whatever your mom or grandma did. Anyone especially passionate about a certain type of milk?
Related
Sweet Melissa's Ginger Custard Pumpkin Pie
Cook's Illustrated's Pumpkin Pie
Dorie Greenspan's Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie
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- Gelato U: People from around the world attend weeklong sessions at Carpigiani Gelato University in Bologna, Italy, for gelato education. [TIME]
- 222.5 Pounds: Meatball world record has been broken. [MSNBC]
- CHOW 13: A baker's dozen of food trendsetters. Cool art involved. [CHOW]
- In Food Costumes: Kelly Osbourne is an egg for Halloween. [Jezebel]
- Coffee Bean Scale: Wow. That bean doesn't seem tiny anymore. [UofUtah]
- Junk Food Depression: Diets high in processed food linked to sadness. [BBC]
- Steamy Kitchen: A chat with the food blogger about her new book. [LAist]
- Dark and Snow-Stormy: Rum, ginger beer, and snow. [Craftzine]
- Freezer Party: How to throw a holiday bash with defrostable foods. [SFC]
- Man-o-Manischewitz: "Who wouldn't think about buying a chicken broth from a company known for everything Jewish?" [NYT]
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Posted by Gordon Mark, November 2, 2009 at 6:00 PM
With all the channels on broadcast TV and cable—and the inevitable episode repeats—it's hard to sort out what's new or worthwhile. Let us sort it out for you so you don't miss anything worth watching. Times may vary with region; check your local listings for exact hour and channels.
Quick Little Note: I recently heard about the show Cake Boss. It's a lot like Ace of Cakes except this is based on an Italian family's bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey. I've seen a few clips and it looks entertaining. Let me know if you like it or not!
Monday (November 2)
Good Eats: "The Once and Future Fish." Alton explores sustainable farm-raised trout. 8 p.m. ET, Food Network
Cake Boss: "Robots, Rollerskates and Relatives." Buddy makes a moving robot cake and a 1970s themed rollerskate cake. 10 p.m. ET, TLC
Cake Boss: "Painters, Pool & Pink." Buddy makes a billards table cake for a football player and the bakery gets a makeover. 10 p.m. ET, TLC
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (warning, a video plays automatically on site): "Family Style." Guy find family style cooking in Providence, Rhode Island; Houston, Texas; and Glendale, California. 10 p.m. ET, Food Network
Late Show with David Letterman: Guy Fieri is a guest. 11:35 p.m. ET, NBC
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 2, 2009 at 5:30 PM
Thank you to everyone who entered the second annual Serious Eats Pumpkin Carving contest. It was a tough call, but without further ado, we bring you the three favorites. Check them out, after the jump.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 2, 2009 at 5:00 PM
[Flickr: Starsammy]
Not all apples are created equal in the oven. If you're new to baking apples and don't want to be left with a pile of unsightly mush, check out NPR's baked apple taste test where they try five different apples. Honeycrisp wins; Granny Smith loses. What's your favorite baking apple?
Related: Baking With Dorie: Fruit-Nut-and-Honey Baked Apples
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Posted by Leah Greenstein, November 2, 2009 at 3:30 PM
Note: On Mondays, one of our various Market Scene correspondents checks in with what's fresh at farmstands, what's coming up, and what you better get while the gettin's good. This week, we hear from Los Angeles correspondent Leah Greenstein of SpicySaltySweet. Take us to the market, Leah!
Persimmons from Peacock Family Farm.
If fall had an official color—like poppies are the official flower of California, Humuhumunukunukuapua`a is the official fish of Hawaii and Crocs are the official shoe of Mario Batali—it would have to be orange. Vibrant, warm and evocative of piles of crisp leaves perfect for jumping in, or the jack-o-lantern shrapnel you wade through the morning after Halloween, orange permeates the season.
Here are some of my favorite orange things spotted at the Hollywood Farmers' Market (map) over the weekend:
Marigolds
Marigolds for El Diá De Los Muertos.
The brightest orange at the market wasn't from pyramids of pumpkins as you might expect. In fact, there were hardly any pumpkins (perhaps related to the jack-o-lantern shrapnel?). Instead it came from the near fluorescent marigold blooms at the South Central Farmers Cooperative stall. Marigolds are the traditional flower of El Diá De Los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, which started yesterday and continues through today.
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Cook the Book: The Pioneer Woman Cooks: nmallory, RossS, merckurybubbles, Sharon H., and wwe11. Winners have been notified by email and also appear on our Contest Winners page. Thanks to all who entered.
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Posted by BostonZest, November 2, 2009 at 2:25 PM
Note: When Penny Cherubino of BostonZest isn't covering Boston-area farmers' markets for us, she's probably chowing down on a hot dog. Last time we heard from her it was from Blue Light in Provincentown, Massachusetts. This week she's got another favorite.
[Photographs: Penny Cherubino]
The Boston Speed Dog is a rite of passage for the Hub's food community. Every city has places you must go and bites you must take to earn your official food lover stripes. The Speed Dog was Boston's secret indulgence until the Wall Street Journal named it "Top Dog in America" last year. Now it's a destination for those planning a food journey through the region.
Speed's location—in a parking lot, in the wholesale meat and produce district—seems an unlikely place for guys in suits, medical workers in scrubs, postal carriers, laborers, contractors, and food fans to stand around munching on hot dogs. But, from all over the city, all types of people make their way to this legendary truck.
Everyone lines up for their turn at the window where chef Greg Gale takes your order and moves your hot dog from a slowly simmering marinade to the grill. The hot dog itself is custom made for Speed's by Grote & Weigel. It's half a pound, all beef, about eight inches long and stuffed in a casing that gives a great snap when you bite into it.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 2, 2009 at 1:40 PM
"On any single route, our trailers can carry 20 salads, 30 breads, and 40 soups—about 200 pounds in total."
Jed Lazar showing off some chili. [Photographs: Ashley Sturm]
Name: SoupCycle
Vendors: Jed Lazar and Shauna Lambert
Twitter: @SoupCycle
Location and hours: All soups are bicycle-delivered to soupetarians (aka customers) at their homes and offices in Portland. We have three wonderful delivery folks, each of whom makes about 50 bicycle soup deliveries a day. We adjust our routes often to be as efficient as possible. Between that and the changing cycling weather, time to chat with customers during deliveries, and en-route bike repairs, we give you a big window of time when we'll deliver your tasty soup.
What's on the menu? We sell a soupscription, a weekly delivery of organic soups, breads, salads and dressing and deliver to people in Souplandistan.
How long have you been food trucking? One year.
How has Twitter affected business? Twitter keeps our customers up to date on SoupCycle and connected to the company's mission.
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Posted by Caroline Russock, November 2, 2009 at 12:45 PM
"This is a cookbook that makes you want to cook."
Even the best restaurants can have a hard time filling their tables on Monday nights. Some places use this slow night as a welcome day of rest for their staff, but some see it as an opportunity to try something a little different.
A little over ten years ago Mark Peel decided to scrap the modern Italian menu that he served nightly Campanile, his Los Angeles modern Italian restaurant, in favor of a simple family-style Monday night meal. The results were mutually beneficial.
For one night a week, Peel was able to serve whatever his heart desired and in turn, his customers enjoyed an inspired three-course meal at an affordable price. During these family dinners, there was no indecision over what to order—everyone eats the same meal (even the wine pairings are already chosen). The concept combines all of the comfort of eating a home-cooked meal with the best parts of eating out.
These Monday night dinners became a quick success and now more than ten years later, Peel has come out with a cookbook that shares recipes from his favorite family dinners. New Classic Family Dinners is filled with dishes that would qualify as must-orders on most restaurant menus but can also be prepared without a restaurant kitchen or staff for that matter.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 2, 2009 at 12:00 PM
You know farming has reached faddish proportions when there's a Facebook game devoted to it. Farmville was launched in June but now has nearly 60 million users. It's somewhere between the Sims and Charlotte's Web where players harvest raspberries, pumpkins, and other foods, then sell their bounty for online coins. As this recent New York Times piece points out, more and more people are becoming obsessed with putting on their virtual overalls.
"The game seems to have mesmerized people from all walks of life. Every night for the last two weeks, Jil Wrinkle, a 40-year-old medical transcriber in the Philippines, has set his alarm for 1:30 a.m., when he will wake up, roll over and harvest his blueberries." See how the game works, after the jump.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 2, 2009 at 11:00 AM
[Photographs: Robyn Lee]
When you reach for a Heineken do you realize you're a self-assured poser who feels really exceptional but actually lacks self-esteem? Whereas those chugging back the Budweiser are sensible, grounded, and practical. According to Ad Age, beer choices can be like a Myers-Briggs test, providing insight about personality types.
Craft-beer drinkers are more likely to spend time thinking about beer rather than work. They are more open-minded than most people, seek out interesting and varied experiences and are intellectually curious. Craft-beer drinkers also skew as having a lower sense of responsibility—they don't stress about missed deadlines and tend to be happy-go-lucky about life.
Apparently craft beer nerds are also 52% more likely to be fans of The Office. Sure there are some vast generalizations here but the beer-as-window-to-the-soul study is pretty entertaining.
Related
Can Pumpkin Beer Be Serious Beer?
Serious Beer Tasting: Belgian Dubbels
Serious Beer Tasting: American Brown Ales
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 2, 2009 at 9:45 AM
[Photograph: Robyn Lee]
One guy has decided to write 365 poems about onion bagels in 365 days. Here's one example called "the day the vampires finally got me."
couldn't find my silver necklace
(the one with garlic bagels on it)
so i wore the gold one
with onion bagels instead
Hopefully he's also considering another site devoted to rhymes about chewing mint gum. [via The Presurfer]
Related
A Poem: Fast Food Smell
Spoof of 'The Raven,' About a Jug of Milk
Haiku Lunchbox
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Posted by Carey Jones, November 1, 2009 at 5:00 PM
[Photo: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]
Bacon Attack! Never content with a standard recipe, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt doesn't just put bacon on his burger—he works it into the patty, the sauce, and the bun, too. Bacon to the fourth power.
Soondubu Jjigae: "Possibly the silkiest tofu dish you will ever cook," the soondubu jjigae recipe Chichi Wang gives us results in a "tiny cauldron of bubbling, spicy tofu."
Perfect Pot Roast: Caroline Russock tries out the Pioneer Woman's pot roast recipe, just in time for fall.
Stomach-Stuffed Arepas: Chichi Wang cooks a pig's stomach until crispy, a perfect filling for her homemade arepas.
Eat For Eight Bucks: Robin Bellinger gives us six servings of a warming chickpea soup—for just eight bucks.
Broccoli Romanesco: Gina DePalma shows us a few ways to cook the "delicious and creepy and weird" veggie.
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, November 1, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Atlanta Journal-Constitution dining writer John Kessler chimes in with a few food trends buzzing in Atlanta right now.
Pizza Wars
Margherita pie from Varasano's. [Flickr: The Blissful Glutton]
The opening of Varasano's Pizzeria has kicked off a new age of pizza one-upmanship in Atlanta that online pundits have dubbed the "Pizza Wars." Varasano, as Slice readers should know, is the displaced New Yorker who spent years trying to reverse engineer the pies from Patsy's. He detailed his experiments, scientific conclusions, and raucous pizza-tasting parties on a webpage that went viral in 2006. A first-time restaurateur, Varasano opened to consistency issues with his sourdough crust and mixed reviews from local critics. But he can make some phenomenal pies in his custom-designed electric oven from Sweden.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, November 1, 2009 at 2:00 PM
If you're eating a chicken wing off the bone, you're doing it wrong, according to Food Wishes. Their tutorial shows you how to debone a chicken wing by simply (maybe) twisting and pulling out the bones. Do any of you use this method? Watch the video after the jump.
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Posted by Claire Sellers, November 1, 2009 at 11:00 AM
A Burger Roundup: Focusing on the popular smashed-style burger, Ed Levine carefully examines each patty in hopes of finding NYC's best smashed burger.
Philly Dog: This week's hot dog of the week is the Texas Tommy, was popular with 1950's housewives, a dog fully loaded with bacon and cheese.
The Brunch Dish: Skip the long lines for brunch and head over to Morningside Heights eatery Community Food and Juice for a no-frills, seriously delicious brunch.
Portland Pies: On a whirlwind five-city pizza tour, Adam Kuban dishes on the highly popular Portland, Oregon, pizza joint Ken's Artisan Pizza.
Dimensional Eats: Usually reporting on Chicago grub, Michael Nagrant takes a detour and ends up at Tony's 3-D Party Store, a Detroit liquor store with a knack for tasty sandwiches.
Upscale Local: Daniel Zemans stops by the Prairie Grass Cafe in the suburbs of Chicago to experience their high quality burgers with an influence on local ingredients and delicious burgers.
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