FOOD FLICKS: Tom Colicchio's Craftsteak at MGM

By JULIETTE ROSSANT If you haven't poked your head into Tom Colicchio's restaurant Craftsteak at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas (discussed on pp. 198-200 in Super Chef). Tom Colicchio's Craftsteak at the MGM Grand Run time: 0 minutes 45 seconds Previous articles: Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe at MGM Tom Colicchio's Craftsteak NY [FOOD FLICKS - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog

Cat Cora FHM: MiniMart Chef?

By JULIETTE ROSSANT How is a girl to keep up with the competition? Take Cat Cora. She's got to keep up with her Food Network pal Rachael Ray. If Rachael starts her own magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Cat has to at least become executive chef for Bon Appetit magazine. If Rachael starts endorsing products, Cat has to endorse something, even if it's a garbage disposer. If Rachael gets her picture in FHM, Cat has to get her photo into -- Forbes? But when Rachael launches a new TV talk show, The Rachael Ray Show, complete with blessings from backer Oprah Winfrey, what's a girl to do? Bust out the mini-skirt and hit the mini-market, that's what! So, earlier this month, that's just what Cat did: fall in line right behind Rachael and pose for FHM. The operative word here is "fell," because Cat simply falls out of her top as she reaches down in her mini-skirt to pick up a food item in a mini-market. OK, the story is tongue-in-cheek, too: Cat sets out to cook a Fine Dining meal with ingredients from a Circle K. But, fun aside, where does the lowering to "common" food stop, and when do we find a little Food elevation? The Food Network has already shoved aside stalwarts like Sara Moulton: will they force the one women professional chef they are promoting to scrape and bow for ratings and celebrity, rather than focus on the "food" in the network's name.......? Or is this more a case of (forgive us) "cat out of the bag"? Whatever the case, these photos hardly match up with the grand gesture of Chefs for Humanity. Previous articles: Rossant on Rachael Ray's Competition Cat Cora Joins Bon Appetit St. Patrick's: Cat Takes Hat Cat Cora Talks Money to Forbes Cat Cora: Chefs for Humanity Results: White House Woman Chef Cat Cora, Anita Lo: Sexing Up Iron Chef America Profile: Cat Cora for White House Chef Cat Cora Wins on Iron Chef America Cat Cora: Iron Chef America's First Lady World AIDS Day II: Iron Chef Cat Cora [Chefs & Branding - complete] [Food Television - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog

Christmas Remembered: Tomie dePaola

By JULIETTE ROSSANT These days, it's never too early to write about Christmas, and what better way to start seasonal thoughts than with Tomie dePaola? If you have ever read to a small child, or if you are in touch with your inner child, chances are you've read one of Tomie's 200 or so children's books. Many of them often feature food. His wonderful tale of an Italian witch, Strega Nona, is all about the trouble her assistant, Big Anthony, gets into when he uses her magic pasta pot without permission. Another, Pascual and the Kitchen Angels, narrates an angel takeover of a kitchen to bail out the young, inexperienced San Pascual, who is supposed to be cooking meal for monks. Guess Who is Coming to Santa's for Dinner?, is based on a Christmas party that Tomie had for his own family: I decided when I moved to this house over a decade ago that I would have my sister and her kids over along with friends for a huge Christmas dinner. It was a disaster, of course. The plum pudding that had too much liquor exploded, and I had flames on my arm! Sure enough, in the book Santa decides to invite his whole dysfunctional family over for dinner, and the dessert explodes. (Duff Goldman: somewhere in your youth or childhood, did you ever read Tomie dePaola?) From what Tomie told Superchefblog, his early childhood memories of food resemble those many chefs: I have an Irish grandma, and for birthdays for the Irish, you could do whatever you wanted. I wanted to cook my own dinner. I was five. They put a chair backwards against the stove, and my parents stood on either side of me. I don't know if my father had a fire extinguisher… I had a six-inch frying pan, I made a pop eye – you fry an egg with fried bread that you've cut a hole out of, and then put the bread hole on top of the egg poking through [sometimes called a "bunny in the hole"]. I still have that frying pan. His newest book, Christmas Remembered (G. P. Putnam 2006) is a treasury of stories about Christmases in his life, illustrated with collages. This is a gift for families – there are no sad stories, no dysfunctional family members, but there are marvelous, tender personal stories of why Christmas is a joyous time no matter where you are or who you are with. One of his favorite stories in the book is about spending a Christmas in New York City that ended with a meal at the Plaza Hotel: Finally a brigade of servers arrived with trays filled with fancy desserts. The waiter himself took the little girl's special dessert, placed it in front of her and stepped back. It was a pink and white fruit-ice Santa Claus standing amongst globes of strawberry and vanilla ice cream. She started at it. Everyone looked lovingly at her. The older woman said, "Isn't that lovely, dear? A Santa Popsicle!" The Little Girl picked up the Santa and promptly bit off his head. The rest of the table froze in absolute silence. "Oh, well," I said to Bob. "This is the Plaza, after all. 'Eloise' is alive and well." (p. 75) One chapter is about Tomie's part time job in high-school at the local candy shop, and how he helped make mint candy canes, including one over five feet long. ("A Candy Cane Christmas" pp. 19-25) Another Christmas in San Francisco, Tomie decided to have an after-Christmas party and filled his small apartment with over 80 small Christmas trees that he bargained for from some paesani who had trees left over after Christmas. (The model for Strega Nona, Tomie confided to Superchefblog, is none other than his own Italian grandmother, Nana Fall-River, named after the town where she lived. You can see his handsome portrait of a contented grandmother, wine glass raised, toasting the riches of Christmas. -- Just wait for Cucina Strega Nona!) Book details: Publisher Amazon.com Barnes & Noble Previous articles: [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, cookbooks, cookbook reviews --> back to superchefblog

Emeril's Military-Only Contest

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Is Emeril Lagasse the new face of the USO, that nonprofit led by the likes of Bob Hope and Brooke Shields, which entertains and boost morale among our troops around the world? Take for instance Emeril's newest contest: if you are a military chef, this one is for you (click here to enter). Only military chefs on active duty can submit their recipes by October 9th, 2006. The best ones, judged by Emeril according to originality and taste, will be choosen for a special episode. The Food Network website has this important advice: And when you give us your recipe title, it is helpful to know what type of food category applies. For example, "Chicken Soup" might be better as "Tony's Smokin' Chicken Soup" or "Tomato Sauce" might be better as "My Sunday Best Red Sauce." Superchefblog humbly suggests more appropriately military words like "chow" and "grub" and or even MREs. For chicken soup, how about "Chicken Slurp" or for a powdered soup "Chicken WOW" (Chicken With Out Water)? We welcome your suggested names for standard or exotic fare. Related articles: ARNEWS Soldiers Online Armytimes.com Biloxi Sun Herald Air Force Times Army Times Marine Corps Times Navy Times Previous articles: Sodexho Signs Suvir Saran American Gulag: Bad Goulash? RIP Marla Ruzicka Tsunami Update 5: Chefs Counter Paul Prudhomme Seasons Troops in Gitmo Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog

Exclusive Interview: Paula's Party

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Are you craving more Paula Deen? That Southern matron-cum-cook who owns The Lady and Sons in Savanah, GA? Who hosts Paula's Home Cooking on the Food Network and stars in her own episode of Chefography? Who hawks kitchen products and magazine (Cooking with Paula Deen, from Hoffman Media)? Who has set up her sons, Bobbie and Jamie Deen, on their own Food Network show, Road Tasted. If you ever wanted to party with her, then her new show, Paula's Party, premiering on the Food Network at 10:00 p.m. EDT on September 29, 2006 (Friday), is the show for you. It is more of Paula, but more for adults: sassier, friskier, and a little more "romantical" (that's how Paula says it: what is "romantical" anyway, instead of romantic?). Paula's Party is partly aimed at Baby Boomers of a certain age, but there are plenty of younger people in the studio audience soaking up her homespun advice, that is part Dr. Phil and part Mother Knows Best. Paula told Superchefblog in a wide-ranging interview: We can't pin it down, My fans are 2 to 92. It's about love in the room that is the heart of the home. My audience is filled with young people, 20s, 40s, 50s, 60s. who have a zest for life. Paula's Party, which is introduced by a dancing Paula under a disco ball, is about spending time cooking food that is meant to enhance romance. The usual aphrodisacs and a few more unusual ones aboud. She and her husband, tugboat captain,Michael Groover, aka Mikey, cooking oxtails and very stuck-together rice. Then she makes grilled oysters swimming in butter and parmesan with her brother, Uncle Bubba Hiers, almost setting their restaurant, Uncle Bubba's Oyster House on fire. She even gets cozy in bed with a couple in her studio, fixing baked praline French toast for a romantic brunch in bed, as if they needed help under the blankets. That's Paula's favorite scene. Then she does a copy of a food competition a la Iron Chef, making a wedding cake batter in three minutes, with the help of the audience. It is not clear why anyone would want to make a wedding cake in three minutes, but that really isn't the point of the fun. At times the show is hysterical, embarrassing, and hokey in a Love Boat sort of way. Paula teases out appropriate come ons from the audience, some of which are sweet stories about how they met their mates. She seems to enjoy herself enormously flirting with everyone as she toss chocolate kiss cookies out to the audience. She shares anectdotes about Mikey romancing her, and does some cooking inbetween. What you learn about cooking you could slip through the eye of a needle. It's more about having fun. Spending time together in the kitchen. We have a lost generation, lost to fast food. I want to educate them about the importance of a family meal. A sentiment echoed by many serious chefs like Michael Schlow whose book, It's About Time is all about making time to cook and eat. Paula plans a children's cookbook and children products as she spends more time with her new one-month old grandson Jack. Southern baby food anyone? Paula wouldn't elaborate on her plans for another show that would take her away from cooking. She is aware of Rachel Ray's progress from cooking shows to interview show: We have certainly discussed that, and I don't want to do anything like her shows. I do have something in mind, but whether it come to be… it won't be a cooking show. I don't want to jinx it. The best part of Paula's Party, she says, is the studio audience. If anyone has Emeril Lagasse's magic with an audience, it's Paula Deen. What is her favorite Food Network Show? Her two son's Road Tasted, of course. But she also enjoys Throw Down with Bobby Flay . I don't watch Iron Chef America. Such pressure! It makes me sick to my stomach. I did that in my restaurant; that is way too stressful for me to enjoy. Paula said she is extremely excited about her upcoming memoir being published: I am excited, nervous, I have a lot of emotions about that. I tried to be honest, to walk down memory lane. I had a Jewish, Yankee writer, for this - Sherry Cohen. Life just runs through her. We got along great. She flies down to Savannah, we crawl on my bed, turn on tape recorder, and talked for hours. She's done a fabulous job. It sounds like me. Paula mentioned a forthcoming Christmas cookbook for next year, and she said that she had at least three more in mind. She is not, however, planning to expand with more restaurants. You know, I am kind of like Bobby, the restaurant business is excruciatingly hard. One is enough. Uncle Bubba's is a place to visit. There are so many other things I want to do. I don't have the time to devote to it. You need to be on site or things can be interpreted poorly. One thing she would jump at is another chance to be in the movies, following her performance as Aunt Dora in Cameron Crowe's film Elizabethtown last year. Her idea of the perfect part? An animated movie in which she plays the voice of a Southern lobster. Video: Paula's Party: Sneak Peek (WMV) Paula Deen interview (WMV) Previous articles: Rossant on Rachael Ray's Competition Jamie and Bobby Deen: Road Tasted Paula Deen & Friends [Food Television - complete] [Chefs & Branding - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, Paula Deen --> back to superchefblog

FOOD FLICKS: Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe at MGM

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Today, you know it as the Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, from a concept developed by Barbara Lazaroff and business partner (also then-husband) Wolfgang Puck (discussed on pp. 31-34 and p. 45 in Super Chef). Once upon a time, not very long ago at all, however, the restaurant was known as the Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe, and here is a little movie about it as a trip down (recent) memory lane. Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe at the MGM Grand Run time: 0 minutes 45 seconds Previous articles: FOOD FLICKS Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog

International Culinary Center - Spain's 10: Cocina de Vanguardia

By JULIETTE ROSSANT It may well be impossible to get a reservation at El Bulli for next month, but you can still catch Ferran Adria at work. The French Culinary Institute and the Italian Culinary Academy are joining together to form a new International Culinary Center. As part of the festivities for the opening of the new school, a international symposium is being held called Spain’s 10: Cocina de Vanguardia. Following gala dinner and auction at the James Beard Foundation on Thursday, October 12, and a ribbon cutting ceremony and summit on Friday, October 13, the public will have the opportunity to attend a day of culinary demonstrations from Spain’s masters, as well as a tapas lunch and tastings on Saturday, October 14. Washington's Jose Andres, along with wine consultant Gerry Dawes, and journalist Anya von Bremzen, host the following 10 chefs: Ferran Adrià Juan Mari Arzak Martín Berasategui Alberto Chicote Paco Roncero Quique Dacosta Daniel García Enrique Martínez Joan Roca Paco Torreblanca Tickets for Saturday's event are $300, with proceeds going to student scholarships. That's probably cheaper than a meal at El Bulli, and it supports a great culinary institution. Previous articles: Common Threads' World Festival Sustainable Seafood Day Cooking For Life: Vikas Khanna No Natural Ingredient: Nelson Mandela, Live8 1st Summer Gourmet Food & Wine Tasting Smithsonian Folklife Festival: Food Culture USA Alice Waters: Green Screen Film Festival Slow Food Thanksgiving, by Alice Waters and Prince Charles New York Welcomes "Cool Comedy - Hot Cuisine" Inside Scoop on Dinner in the Control Room [Chefs & Charity - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog

Jewish Traditions Cookbook: Rosh Hashanah

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Who gets to claim falefel as their own? The Arabs make the dish all over the Middle East but the Israelis claim it as their national dish. What about Circassian Chicken? It is certainly a Turkish dish dating back to Ottoman times, Cevizli Tavuk, appearing in cookbooks like those of Nevim Halici , but it is also part of the cuisine of Turkish Jews. The Jews were forced to wander around the Meditteranean, Eastern Europe, America and the Far East and their cuisine is the cuisine of the countries and peoples among whom they lived. So the answer is: whatever dishes Jews made their own, are theirs as much as the Turks, Arabs, Poles or French, Russians or Ukranians among whom they lived. But what allowed so much of Mediteranean food to end up in the Jewish kitchen? Food writer Marlena Spieler's new encyclopedic cookbook, Jewish Traditions Cookbook, (Lorenz Books 2006) provides the answer: The Ashkenazim used the fat chicken shmatz, so most meals were de facto meat meals. As the non-Jews of the area cooked in pork fat - lard - this meant that foods which could be shared with the non-Jewish community were fewer than those of the Sephardim, who shared their love of olive oil with their Moslem neighbours. The distinction between Jew and non-Jew in Ashknazim lands grew deeper, especially where food was concerned. (p. 9 ) Spieler's encylopedia, is an atlas of the world. The best atlases are huge books with a wealth of information, pictures and stories about the countries they depict. Jewish Tradtions Cookbook is just such an atlas. It joins the world of Jews together with the countries and cuisines where they live: Jewish cooking is shaped by the places Jews have lived and the lives they have experienced. Jewish food tells a story, and influences those whom Jews have lived among. The thread that holds it all together is the dual balance of kashrut: the guide that tells Jews which foods are fit for them to eat (Kosher literally means "fit",) and the unifying force of the year of observances, the celebration and festivities of the year beginning with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.... (p. 9) Rosh Hashanah falls this year on Saturday, September 23rd (or more precisely at sunset on September 22nd). Spieler surveys the Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews and their diasporas across the world, from Greece to France, and from Uzbekistan to the Bene Menashe in India. Their different customs, holidays. festivals and observances are described. She reviews the ingredients that go into Jewish cookery, with the variations in each community, and simple recipes for Kasha (p. 54) and Berbere (p. 61) the Ethiopian spice mixture. She explains why some foods are important: Honey has been much loved by Jews since biblical descriptions of Israel as a land flowing with milk and honey. It is used to represent the sweetness of the year to come at Rosh Hashanah and is also used in baking - most famously in lekach, the honey cake eaten to celebrate a child's first day at school. (p. 61) The photography by Ian Garlick, Dave Jordan, and William Lingwood are clear and tempting, though never overly-arty. Almost all the recipes have step-by-step photographs, even if the recipe is rather simple. Often they use the bowls and plates of different regions to make each dish more attractive. The recipes are written in a clear and easy to follow manner, with amounts given in European and American measurements. The section on appetizers starts with Cucumber and Walnut Yogurt (p. 72) a Bulgarian Jewish take on Greek tzatziki (or is that Turkish cacik), followed by a recipe for Egyptian Brown Bean Salad (p. 73) which uses brown beans (broad or fava beans), which are the essential ingredient for Egypt's national dish, foul medames. Some of the recipes go by their native name, such as Muhamara (p. 77) a spicy, thick red pepper dip enjoyed in Syria and Turkey, while others just have an English name, such as Libyian Spicy Pumpkin Dip (p. 79), which surely must sound more inviting in Ladino or Arabic. There is a fun section on brunch and deli dishes, featuring a recipe for a New York Egg Cream (p. 150), contentious Falafel (p. 158) and Marinated Herrings (p. 164). There's a recipe for bagels on page 400, among many other Jewish breads, to go with all these deli dishes, but sadly none for bialys. The fish recipes are rich with Ashkenazi marinated fish like Marinated Fish with Allspice and Capers (p. 184) as well as Sepharic dishes like Oregano-Baked Tuna with Tomatoes and Golden Brown Potatoes (p. 194). There is even a Caribbean Jewish recipe for Caribbean Fish Steaks (p. 211). Jewish Tradtions joins the farflung cuisines of the Jews worldwide while explaining how the differences in the cuisine of each community came about. Even if you did not want to create a strictly Jewish meal, this cookbook is rich in clear recipes that are central to many other cuisines. Book details: Publisher Amazon.com Barnes & Noble Previous articles: [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, cookbooks --> back to superchefblog

Alice Waters on E. Coli Spinach

By JULIETTE ROSSANT As the Brits are saying, in America first it was the war on drugs, then terror: now, it's the war on spinach. The past week's E. Coli outbreak is giving Alice Waters a chance to espouse the cause of locally grown food: last night, CBS Evening News interviewed her (watch the CBS News video). The story did not mention Alice's Edible Schoolyard concept, though one would hope that Net-savvy viewers might have looked her up after the story and found out more... Meanwhile, what is a chef to do with spinach, except take it off the menu? Better do it quick: lawsuits are in the air, staring with Chicago. Only two weeks ago, Jacques Pepin was recommending "the supermarket as your prep cook. You can buy fresh washed spinach, sliced mushrooms, skinless boned chicken..." at the 2006 Aspen Food & Wine Classic. Keep watching for updates: here is CDC's official spinach e. coli site. Related stories: Forbes Wall Street Journal San Francisco Chronicle Los Angeles Times San Jose Mercury News Seattle Times Houston Chronicle Boston Globe New York Times USA Today Previous articles: Avian Flu: Precious Seafood Foie Gras War: Bird Flu! Bird Flu Death Count Passes 50 in Asia Food Vermin -- Bird Flu, Next Course? Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog

Rossant on Rachael Ray's Competition

With new day-time morning talk show Rachael Ray premiering this morning, New York Daily News's Rachael Wharton interviews Superchefblog's Juliette Rossant for soundbytes on the competition that is heating up for Rachael Ray -- take your pick from among Paula Deen, Giada de Laurentiis, Cat Cora, or Nigella Lawson. Click here to read the article in full. (You might also enjoy NYDN's early article, "Hotties in the Kitchen.") We've written about each one of them in Superchefblog -- except Giada: what's to say, beyond that she's beautiful? Now, here's the big question for readers: who is the only one among the five women who is a practiced, professionally trained chef? (Leave your answers as a comment, below.) Rachael Ray: Forbes Celebrity 100 Chefs 2006: Cute? Rachael Ray: Media Empire Rachael Ray: A Few Days Later Rachael Ray Every Day from Readers Digest Paula Deen: Paula Deen: Egg Muffin Machine Jamie and Bobby Deen: Road Tasted Paula Deen & Friends Cat Cora: Cat Cora Joins Bon Appetit St. Patrick's: Cat Takes Hat Cat Cora Talks Money to Forbes Cat Cora: Chefs for Humanity Results: White House Woman Chef Cat Cora, Anita Lo: Sexing Up Iron Chef America Profile: Cat Cora for White House Chef Cat Cora Wins on Iron Chef America Cat Cora: Iron Chef America's First Lady World AIDS Day II: Iron Chef Cat Cora Giada de Laurentiis: Today's Kitchen Cookbook Nigella Lawson: July 4: East Meets West Nigella Lawson on QVC: Stand Aside, Boys! Nigella Lawson's Feast Amazon UK's Steamy Xmas Chefs Previous articles: [Food Television - complete] [Chefs & Branding - complete] [Citations] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog

FOOD FLICKS: Don't Gross Out the World

By JULIETTE ROSSANT McDonald's advertising mastermind Keith Reinhard has a World Citizen's Guide, promoted through his non-profit group Business for Diplomatic Action: in like manner Superchefblog invites you to take the Don't Gross Out the World self-test to help us all be better world citizens when we eat. Take the test and enjoy. Previous articles: [FOOD FLICKS - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog

Paula Deen: Egg Muffin Machine

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Do you hanker, as Paul Bocuse did, for McDonald's cuisine? (See previous article.) Hate to have to walk in or even roll by the drive-thru window? Well, it may be that Paul Deen feels your pain. Certainly, something has urged her to launch her first small appliance, a signature Paula Deen Egg & Muffin Toaster, complete with recipe card, available in early October 2006 at Wal-Mart stores and online from Walmart, the Food Network, Amazon.com, Lady & Sons website, and PaulaDeen.com -- in time for the winter holidays -- and all for a mere $49.99 (manufacturer's suggested retail price). Partnering with Paula is kitchenware producer Back to Basics in a multi-year endorsement contract for exclusive license on a family of Paula Deen small appliances, electric and non-electric. The firm plans for a blender, iced tea maker, slow cooker, coffeemaker, and food processor in 2007. Paula Deen's egg muffin machine will receive marketing and advertising support from its own webiste www.eggandmuffintoaster.com beginning October 1, from print advertisements in her magazine Cooking with Paula Deen, frm in-store appearances and demonstrations, and from Back to Basics' national TV campaign Q4 2006. Previous articles: World in My Kitchen: Bocuse Chez McDonald's Jamie and Bobby Deen: Road Tasted Paula Deen & Friends [Food Television - complete] [Chefs & Branding - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog

World in My Kitchen: Bocuse Chez McDonald's

By JULIETTE ROSSANT French-born food writer Colette Rossant had nearly two decades to acclimatize to New York and American food before the world's most famous chef, Paul Bocuse, voyaged to the New World. Bocuse had come to promote one of his cookbooks, which she had translated, but the morning of the book launch, things turned out differently than planned, as recounted in the following excerpt from her newly published third food memoir, The World in My Kitchen: The Adventures of a (Mostly) French Woman in America (Atria 2006): On the day of the publication, Paul was to prepare a dinner at Lutece for the press. We were to meet for the first time in twenty-five years at 7:30 A.M. in front of Balducci's food store on Sixth Avenue to shop for the dinner. Paul had brough many t hings from France, but we needed meat, vegetables, and fruit… Unfortunately, Balducci's had forgotten our appointment, and the store was not yet open... "Colette, I need breakfast; where shall we go?" I looked around. Nothing was open except McDonald's. I tried to explain that McDonald's, which had not as yet invaded France, was a fast-food chain, and there wasn't much he would like. "Let's go there; it is fine," and so to McDonald's we went, followed by the press. As we sat down, I explained to Paul what was on the menu. "you can have a muffin with egg and cheese, or ham." " 'Muffin' ? Qu'est-ce que c'est 'muffin' ? " I explained, and Paul chose the muffin with eggs and ham and french fries. Paul ate the eggs with gusto, thought the coffee was too weak, but announced loudly that "These are the best french fries I have ever eaten. I want to meet the chef." "But Paul, this is a fast-food restaurant: there is no chef." "Nonsense, Colette. Every kitchen has a chef!" With these words, Paul got up and walked over to the counter where a young black man was standing, waiting to receive orders. To his astonishment and amidst flashes by photographers, Paul insisted on shaking his hand and saying over and over again, "Bravo, jeune homme. Les meilleures Frites que j'ai jamais mangees. Traduisez, Colette." There were large headlines that evening in the papers, "Paul Bocuse eats the world's best French fries in New York at McDonald's." (pp. 128-129) More than a decade later, Bocuse threatened to sue McDonalds in Paris (see New York Times), but that was a tasteless affair compared to the further faux pas Bocuse committed during that New York visit...... Read more in The World in My Kitchen. While there is no recipe for American-style French fries, that particular chapter ends with recipes for Poached Salmon with Spinach-Tarragon Sauce and Roast Quail with Kumquats and Thyme. Previous articles: [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, cookbooks, recipes --> back to superchefblog

Jamie Oliver: Junk Food Be Cursed!

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Don't you bore Jamie Oliver with a soft stance on issues that touch his heart! He hates junk food with such a passion that recently he called some British parents "tossers" for feeding their kids junk food. If you don't know the term, you can get a sense for just how strong a curse it is by the news coverage Jamie got for it: check out such diverse rags as The Guardian, The Manchester Evening News, and Yorkshire Today. More conservative newspapers, led the The Times of London invited readers to "a good grilling." Belfast Telegraph restrained itself to a terse summary: The television chef Jamie Oliver has fiercely criticised parents who feed their children "junk", describing some youngsters' diets as a crime. He said 70 per cent of packed lunches given to schoolchildren were "disgraceful" and he would like to see them banned." Ah, but do Jamie's curses stop there?... The British press would have you think not. Jamie's backer Sainsbury is thriving, but junk-food producing companies are not, they say. The self same, staid and true Times noted last month a "Jamie Oliver effect on frozen food companies, citing in particular Unilever's sell-off of its Birds Eye brand (see press releasee). The city of Manchester keeps its terrifed eyes on Jamie, after "the curse of Jamie Oliver" hit Northern Foods (see article). Bristol meat producer is supposed to have felt the curse earlier last month, according to The Guardian. Previous articles: Jamie Oliver Betters British School Food FOOD PIX: Jamie Oliver Fat Suit Nora Sands: Nora's Dinners Jamie Oliver Signs Sainsbury's Jamie Oliver New Year: School Lunch Jamie Oliver on Vodafone Live! Jamie Oliver: Real Guts Fat Lady Sings Jamie Oliver Jamie Oliver: School Lunch July 4: East Meets West Wall Street Journal: Beef over Chef Sponsorship? Amazon UK's Steamy Xmas Chefs [Chefs & Charity - complete] [Chefs & Politics - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog

Windows on the World: In Memoriam

By JULIETTE ROSSANT It is five years today since one of Joe Baum's greatest creations, Windows on the World, came crashing down with the rest of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Windows of Hope Family Relief fund remains: don't forget the fallen. And take just 11 seconds to remember when we all realized we were under attack, when that second plane hit: Previous articles: Chefs & Politics Chefs & Charity Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog

FOOD FLICKS: Swedish Chef - Banana Split

By JULIETTE ROSSANT In today's Food Flick, the Swedish Chef makes a banana split, courtesy of YouTube.com. Enjoy! Swedish Chef - Banana Split Run time: 1 minutes 41 seconds Stay tuned for more "Food Flicks" each Friday! Previous articles: Swedish Chef Goes Cheney Swedish Chef & Squirrel Stew [FOOD FLICKS - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, Google video, Food Flicks, Swedish Chef --> back to superchefblog

The Chef and the Architect

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Flip through the pages of most design magazines: you'll see the kitchens of celebrity chefs and super chefs. The story that goes untold is just how their kitchens get built and the thoughts behind the designs. That's what is revealed in the upcoming Food Network special called The Chef & the Architect. That's what makes it is so fascinating to watch, as Superchefblog learned in a sneak preview this week. (The show premieres September 9, 2006 (Saturday), at 9:00 p.m on the Food Network.) Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, who have been partners since they opened City Cafe in 1981 (see Super Chef, chapter 5, pp. 131-174), take on the project of designing Mary Sue's new kitchen with Josh Schweitzer, architect and designer, husband of Mary Sue, and ex-husband of Susan. As Mary Sue told Superchefblog in an exclusive interview: It took three-and-a-half years to make this one-hour special. The kids grew a foot each. It was a labor of love, a peek at the life of me and Josh and somewhat of Susan. It is about the important parts of designing your home kitchen -- to me. The documentary's style is realistic, funny, and immediate -- very true to today's Border Girls and the Food Network's early success with Too Hot Tamales in the late 1990s. Mary Sue and Susan have always had a natural, comfortable relationship on camera, and The Chef & the Architect captures intimate, tense moments as well as their quick fingers preparing food. The special starts with Mary Sue and Josh talking about their soon-to-be old house (formerly a swimming school) and follows them as they find a new house, tear it down, and build a new home designed by Josh. Mary Sue and Josh's two boys mark the passage of time most clearly as they grow; Josh and Mary Sue struggle over what is important to them in kitchen design. Josh draws and redraws plans. They select and buy kitchen equipment, hire and fire cabinetmakers, and agonize over paint colors. Finally Susan joins Mary Sue in the new kitchen with her own remarks about its success. Do you fear this endeavor might be old hat for Josh, who designed not only Border Grill in Santa Monica and Las Vegas and Ciudad, not to mention Mark Peel and Nancy Silverton's Campanile among other restaurants -- and whose previous home has already appeared on FN sister HGTV? Think again: imagine designing your partner's home kitchen! The show wraps on a partially finished, useable kitchen, with big drawers for pots, pans and spices, lots of counterspace, and Mary Sue's top demand -- "four steps from stove to sink to refrigerator." Mary Sue told Superchefblog this week, "I love the kitchen. It's gorgeous. But with Josh everything is always in process, it's still not finished!" Susan and Mary Sue are executive producers of The Chef & the Architect, so now they can add that to their other film credits, most notably culinary design of Tortilla Soup (2001). Equally if not more impressively, then can add Linda Goldstein-Knowlton to their Media portfolio as producer of The Chef & the Architect. You may know Linda already from Whale Rider (2002) and The Shipping News (2001), or you may be about to hear of her for her upcoming direction of The World According to Sesame Street (2006), which airs on PBS around the country on October 24, 2006. Mary Sue mentioned that she and Josh are now cooking together more then before. He is even making sour dough bread with an 18-day starter, and they will be doing some promotional appearances for a new high-end Sears line of kitchenware. The Chef & the Architect shows just how good Mary Sue and Susan (and Josh!) remain on camera: how much better the Food Network would be if they returned with a new show! (Please post your comment to this article, below.) Previous articles: Iron Chef America: Milliken + Feniger v Bobby Flay In the Audience of Iron Chef America Catch the Milliken and Feniger Top Ten Profile: Mary Sue Milliken & Susan Feniger for White House Chef Superchefblog: Catalyst for White House Woman Chef? Results of White House Chef Vote Mary Sue Milliken: California Beats Japan SOS: Baking from the Heart New York Welcomes "Cool Comedy - Hot Cuisine" [Food Television - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog

The Fifth Taste: Kasabian

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Earth, wind, fire, water, these elements we know, but what of the Fifth Element? Sweet, sour, bitter, and salty, these tastes we know, but what of the Fifth Taste? For those unversed in the ways of the Zen kitchen, know you that there is indeed a fifth taste, the way of Umami. To learn the arts of Umami, cast your eyes page by page on The Fifth Taste: Cooking with Umami (Universe Publishing 2005) by husband and wife team David and Anna Kasabian. Learn you the nature of Umami, its history; find the secrets of how one may taste and bring this wondrous flavor into your very own cooking. Umami was first coined in 1907 by Dr. Kikunae Ikeda after he contemplated the flavor of a bowl of Ichiban Dashi soup, recipe on page 15. He isolated monosodium glutamate (MSG) which lead to mass production of the food aditive. We have two messages about MSG. First, there's probably nothing to fear, really. Second, why bother? If you're looking for umami, why not go for the real thing in quality unprocessed foods? There are plenty to be had, and MSG is, after all, an industrially produced chemical, bereft of the myriad other tastes, aromas, nutrients, sights, smiles, memories, and other satisfying sensations that natural umami transports along with it. (p. 19) The purpose of the cookbook is to introduce a number of recipes from the authors and celebrity chefs that have enhanced umami flavor. Dr. Ikeda and colleagues went on to isolate other compounds, short chains of proteins or amino acids. These kind of proteins occur naturally in many foods like mushrooms, wine, tea, and things like beef broth and give them a beefy, meaty taste. The Fifth Taste goes over the main catagories of ingredients, pointing out which foods, whether raw or cooked have umami. The Kasabians provide of helpful box of essential ingredients for the umami pantry (p. 33) which includes things like soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, canned tomatoes, and dried shitake mushrooms. The recipes highlight which ingredients add umami flavor, like chicken thighs, smoked ham, mushrooms, and white wine in Coq au Vin Nouveau (p. 36-7). The Umami Poolish Bread (p. 44) has a poolish pre-fermentation mixture (like a sour dough) and requires mixing but no kneeding. The flour, gluten, and yeast all have umami, but are enhanced by the pre-fermentation process. The celebrity chef recipes from 25 chefs are all mostly hearty, meaty dishes, some quite elaborate and others quite simple. It is no surprise that Asian and Asian-inspired dishes have many Umami-rich ingredients, like two from Nobu Matsuhisa: Cilantro Soup with Monkfish (p. 88) made with Nobu's Dashi (p. 89). Kombu, dried bonito flakes, as well as sake, soy sauce and monkfish create a strong Umami taste. There is also a Umami-rich recipe from Jimmy Schmidt for Portobello and Chanterelle Mushroom Cylinder (pp. 140-1) that includes white truffle oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano and plenty of umami-full mushrooms. What is surprising is that umami is in non-Asian dishes like Jody Adam's Braised Duck Legs with Mushrooms and Caper-Vinegar Sauce (pp. 56-7) or Norman Van Aken's Pan-Roasted Cumin-Rubbed Breast of Chicken, with Plaintain-Foie Gras "Mofongo" on My Very Black Bean Sauce (pp. 178-181) The umami comes from ingredients like chicken breasts, cornmeal and black beans. Don't forget to check out recipes from Daniel Boulud and the Too Hot Tamales, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. The book doesn't ignore all the other reasons these recipes would make good food, but it does highlight why we crave umami and if we can encourage that craving, perhaps we can avoid craving too much sweet and fatty food. Our unconscious psychological yearning for umami actually supports a complex system of biological needs. We seek amino acids for protein-building, for use as metabolic fuel, and for many other crucial fuctions, and we hit the umami jackpot when we mix them with nucleotides, vital to battling disease. (p. 21) Now that you have learned (more) of Umami's existence, there is only one thing left to do: seek out a copy of this cookbook and start cooking. Book details: Publisher Amazon.com Barnes & Noble Previous articles: [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog

Jamie Oliver Betters British School Food

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Lucky British school students. This week they started school with healthier lunches, largely the result of Jamie Oliver's campaign to get fatty, unhealthy food out of school cafeterias. The new guidelines on meals follows Jamie's "Feed Me Better" campaign, begun in 2005, and his very popular TV show, Jamie's School Dinners on the UK's Channel 4. Oliver will review progress in the special, Jamie's Return to School Dinners, which airs later this month. (If you want to have Jamie consider a question about school lunches, click here.) There is more to be done, but most British school students will be eating healthier food than their American counterparts. Shouldn't more celebrity chefs in America be pushing for healthier food? Shouldn't American parents support these chefs and call on the government for drastic improvement? Related news: BBC Guardian Reuters Digital Spy Previous articles: FOOD PIX: Jamie Oliver Fat Suit Nora Sands: Nora's Dinners Jamie Oliver Signs Sainsbury's Jamie Oliver New Year: School Lunch Jamie Oliver on Vodafone Live! Jamie Oliver: Real Guts Fat Lady Sings Jamie Oliver Jamie Oliver: School Lunch July 4: East Meets West Wall Street Journal: Beef over Chef Sponsorship? Amazon UK's Steamy Xmas Chefs [Chefs & Charity - complete] [Chefs & Politics - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog