I want to give a sincere thanks to all you smart, funny, interesting, dedicated (and I’m sure very attractive) readers of this blog. You make publishing this blog the wonderful pleasure it is, and thanks to your support 2010 promises to be Food Wishes’ best year ever!
Don’t be afraid to eat and drink a little too much today. Remember, you can always burn it off by watching football on the couch later. Enjoy!
That’s right, Guinness has to be considered Ireland’s most famous food. Some of you may be thinking that beer is a beverage, not a food, and that this whole post is just an excuse to show a funny commercial. You have a point, but during my one and only trip to Ireland, about 20 years ago, Guinness was described, and used, as a food.
The natives were not shy about telling me how nutritious it was, how it is “fed” to patients in the hospital, how you can cook with it, how it’s made, how to pour it, how to drink, and so on. What I really like best about Guinness is the fact that it can’t be dyed green! Green beer…worst idea ever.
This Guinness beer commercial is dedicated to everyone who doesn’t believe in evolution, and think the world is only a few thousand years old. It’s also dedicated to all those scientists that have spent their entire careers hiding “fake” bones and fossils. I need a beer. May you all have a safe and fun St. Paddy’s Day!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc6U7_-BeGc]
Photo (c) Scott Thompson
This is one of my favorite restaurant tricks ever. I invented this technique in 1985, after seeing another chef do it at a small café in San Francisco. It is an amazing way to distribute blue cheese over a salad without messing up your fingers, and without having the cheese end up alone at the bottom the of bowl when the lettuce is gone.
This simple trick guarantees a perfect blue cheese portion with every forkful. As you’ll see in the video recipe, it does require a plastic rotary grater, which is very inexpensive and easy to find. These graters are great if you ever need to grate large amounts of Parmesan as well, so I think they are a nice thing to have in the kitchen, even if you don’t plan on using it to stun your foodie friends with the best blue cheese trick ever! Enjoy!
In Part 1 of this recipe, as I hope you saw, we made a classic brine and soaked our pork for 48 hours to impart flavor and moisture. In part 2, we will slow roast the brined pork and then serve it very simply, as a classic Charcuterie plate.
First a definition for those not familiar with “char-koo-ter-eee” from Wikipedia: “Charcuterie (from either the French chair cuite, cooked meat, or the French cuiseur de chair, cooker of meat) is the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products such as sausage and confit primarily from pork. The practice goes back to ancient times and can involve the chemical preservation of meats; it is also a means of using up various meat scraps. Hams, for instance, whether smoked, air-cured, salted, or treated by chemical means, are examples of charcuterie.”
Since the traditional method for cooking our pork confit would be to cover it completely in duck or pork fat, we’ll have to adapt for the home chef. We’ll wrap our meat in plastic wrap and then foil, and roast it in a slow oven which will get us very close to the product produced by the traditional method. After 4 hours at 275 degrees, pork is left to cool completely. This can only be sliced cold, otherwise it would fall apart, so it should be refrigerated overnight. Then we give it a very classic plating with mustard, cornichons, olives and pickled red onions. Throw in a couple slices of toasted dark bread and you are in Charcuterie heaven.
This lecture by author, and Berkeley professor, Michael Pollan, is the longest video I’ve ever posted on Foodwishes. I was scanning the usual sites for some funny weekend filler content, and I came across this. The best book, by far, I read last year was called The Omnivore’s Dilemma. It was a fascinating, scary, provocative, disturbing read, and for the first time I really started to think about all the “factory food” we consume.
This lecture filmed at Google, focuses mostly on Michael’s new book, In Defense of Food. I highly recommend that if you’re interested in what he is talking about, you buy these books and read about where our food comes from, and how it gets to us. I like to think I’m doing some good in the world, showing people how easy it is to cook fresh food at home, but that’s only part of it. What they’re buying and cooking is just as important. Enjoy.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-t-7lTw6mA]
If you follow me on Twitter, you probably already know I’m headed to Colorado to cover the 27th Annual Aspen Food and Wine Classic for About.com. I received one of the extremely coveted, full-access press passes, and will be taking full advantage.
This time each year, the Food and Wine Classic becomes the absolute center of the epicurean universe. Everyone who’s anyone in food and wine (not to mention food/wine writing and blogging) makes their way to Aspen for three days (five for some) of delicious tax-deductible decadence.
I’m flying out of San Francisco on Wednesday, and returning Monday. In between, my goal is to set the Food and Wine Classic record for media coverage – there’s a chance I’ll be moving from event to event, from tasting to tasting, from party to party, so fast and furiously that my press badge will actually burst into flames.
Of course, if that does happen I imagine one of the rising star chefs will run over and try and smoke some scallops over it. It’s just that kind of event. I’ll be posting every day on About.com, as well as doing my best to give you a play-by-play on Twitter. So, if you’re not already following me, get on it!
As much as I’m looking forward to seeing, and being seen with, the food world’s best and brightest, I’m also excited to meet and trade war stories with fellow food writers and bloggers.
I’ll be meeting up with my friends from Foodbuzz (they always know where the party’s at), and a couple new food blogger friends, Heidi from SavoryTV and Average Betty, who will both be there with Plum TV. Here’s a little taste they shot at the 2007 Aspen Food and Wine Classic. Enjoy, and stay tuned!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYeqbf7JAfg]
Classic Fireworks Photo (c) Steve Mundinger
Jacques Pépin, Danny Meyer, and Bobby Flay Photo (c) David Sawyer
The Grand Tasting Pavilion Courtyard Photo (c) Perry Johnson
This weekend’s filler video stars my lovely and talented niece Alexandra, performing a perfect 10 routine at a recent gymnastics meet.
The secrets to her success? Extremely dedicated parents and grandmother who nurture her talents; thousands of hours of grueling practice; and most importantly, a diet very high in carbs. Speaking of high carb diets, after Ali’s video I’ve posted a fun little pasta making/Olympic tribute video I did last year.
By the way, she’s in the foreground and her routine doesn’t start immediately, but be patient, it’s worth the wait! After she becomes a famous Olympian, you can say, “I remember watching her on her uncle’s food blog a few years ago.” Enjoy!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVtV-jMw780]
http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1567891&server=www.vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=b5d15a&fullscreen=1
There are some recipes that require absolutely zero technique. This video recipe for super-simple, stick-to-your-ribs, slow-roasted lamb shanks is a perfect example. You add like three ingredients, wrap them up, and a couple hours later you are enjoying succulent, fork-tender lamb.
It almost seems too good to be true, and you keep trying to think if you missed something, but you didn’t. The shanks do almost everything for you. Lamb shanks, and all shanks for that matter, are loaded with connective tissue that melts during the slow roasting and creates that rich, sticky, satisfying texture and flavor.
When buying lamb shanks, look for ones that are the same size. The foreshanks are smaller than the hindshanks, so be sure the butcher isn’t giving you some of each. These are so delicious that guests will fight over who gets the big shank, and it could get ugly. Enjoy!
Click here for ingredients and recipe transcript.
* Please help support free video recipes, and visit my new sponsor, MOZO Shoes. Find out why chefs (like me) are buzzing about their great shoes!
As far as I’m concerned, lobster rolls are one of the best tasting things in the world, and clearly the greatest sandwich ever. Just the thought of those huge chunks of sweet, fresh lobster meat, glistening with mayo, sitting on a warm, buttery, toasted hot dog roll sends me to another universe. This great video by my friend Liza de Guia from Food Curated tells the story of Ben Sargent and the The Underground Lobster Pound. To read the whole story, please visit Lisa’s beautiful blog. Enjoy!
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We just returned home from the amazing Frick Winery, and I’m happy to report another successful Passport event. The weather was glorious, the wine spectacular, and the reviews on the food pairings ranged from delicious to “can I fly you to Dallas?”
Special thanks to my in-laws Peggy and Al, who always do such a great job, and despite the long, hard days seem to enjoy themselves thoroughly.
This year also featured the debut of my cousin (Chef) Tony and his very significant other, Nora, who both did a fantastic job. They brought great energy and enthusiasm to the party, not to mention a couple of pair of 25 year-old legs.
So, our busiest week and weekend of the year is over, and after the briefest of breaks (basically, this afternoon) I will get back behind the stove and camera where most of you probable wish I would stay.
Here are a few photos I took (in order); the view from Bill’s home overlooking the vineyards at dusk, beef bresaola and arugula, hoisin duck and green onions, one-bite tandoori Waldorf salad, chili-rubbed pork tenderloin with chocolate tortillas and pepper jam, cambazola cheese on fig bread, the post event dinner table featuring giant artichokes and grilled tri-tip.
By the way, if you enjoy great wine, and live in Northern California, do yourself a favor and take a ride up to meet Bill Frick and taste his delicious wines in person at his winery in Geyserville. If you live elsewhere, you can visit the Frick Winery website. Enjoy!
