YumSugar

TV Dinners: Gossip Girl - Grilled Cheese

partysugar — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:01:31 -0800

With the writers' strike putting a pause on my favorite television series plot, I've started watching repeats of Gossip Girl. I recently caught the pilot and came across a scene in which Chuck feeds a drunk Serena a grilled cheese sandwich from his hotel's kitchen.

Not your ordinary grilled cheese - it's actually on the New York Palace Hotel's restaurant menu - this sandwich costs $50. So what makes it so divinely delicious and extra expensive? Thick-cut housemade bread, imported Italian Fontina cheese, and fresh shaved black truffles. To take a look at a clip from the episode and check out the recipe, read more.

Gossip Girl's Grilled Cheese Sandwich
From Christopher Lee

8 slices of fresh baked white bread (look for a local bakery)
16 slices of fontina cheese
2 tbsp sweet butter
2 oz fresh shaved black winter truffles
salt and pepper, to taste

Layer 2 slices of fontina cheese between 2 slices of white bread and shave a couple of slices of truffles in the middle of each sandwich; do the same for all four sandwiches.
Heat a large fry pan over medium heat and add the butter.
When the butter melts, add the sandwiches and cook until the bread is nice and toasted.
Remove and slice sandwiches in half and place into four plates.

Makes 4 sandwiches.

Print recipe with images | without images

All-Star Lineup Announced For Top Chef: Masters

YumSugar — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:08:48 -0700

If you're already missing your weekly dose of Top Chef, don't fret: Bravo has announced the cheftestant roster for Top Chef Masters, a new series premiering June 10.

In addition to its impressive cheftestant list and exciting new lineup of judges, the new show will also feature special appearances from a number of personalities, ranging from the predictable (previous winners, Tom, Padma, and Gail) to the surprising (Neil Patrick Harris, Zooey Deschanel, writers and producers of Lost). The show has 24 of the country's most prominent chefs vying for a $100,000 charity prize. Like its original counterpart, each episode on the spinoff show will include a quickfire and an elimination challenge - except the first six episodes of Masters will consist of four chefs competing to name a winner. The six winners will then convene in the final four weeks and one person will be eliminated each episode until the finale, when the last one standing earns the title of Top Chef Master.

A surprising number of celebrity chefs were rumored to be on the show, and while some of the information turned out to be untrue, some of it was right on point. To find out which celebrity cheftestants will compete, read more.

Rick Bayless – Frontera Grill, Chicago, IL
Wilo Benet – Pikayo, San Juan, Puerto Rico
John Besh – Restaurant August, New Orleans, LA
Graham Elliot Bowles – Graham Elliot Restaurant, Chicago, IL
Michael Chiarello – Bottega Restaurant, Yountville, CA
Michael Cimarusti – Providence, Los Angeles, CA
Wylie Dufresne – wd~50, New York, NY
Elizabeth Falkner – Orson, San Francisco, CA
Hubert Keller – Fleur de Lys, San Francisco, CA
Christopher Lee – Aureole, New York, NY
Ludo Lefebvre – Ludo Bites, Los Angeles, CA
Anita Lo – Annisa, New York, NY
Tim Love – The Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Fort Worth, TX
Rick Moonen – Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NV
Nils Noren – French Culinary Institute, New York, NY
Lachlan McKinnon Patterson – Frasca Food & Wine, Boulder, CO
Cindy Pawlcyn – Mustards Grill, Napa Valley, CA
Mark Peel – Campanile, Los Angeles, CA
Douglas Rodriguez – Alma de Cuba, Philadelphia, PA
Michael Schlow – Radius Restaurant, Boston, MA
Art Smith – Table Fifty-Two, Chicago, IL
Suzanne Tracht – Jar, Los Angeles, CA
Jonathan Waxman – Barbuto, New York, NY
Roy Yamaguchi – Roy's Restaurants, San Diego, CA

Do you have any pre-show predictions? Who will you be rooting for?

Source

2007 James Beard Award Winners

YumSugar — Tue, 08 May 2007 13:15:12 -0700

Last night the who's who of the food world all came out for the James Beard Foundation Awards. If you're not sure what that is, let me just say that it's sort of like the Oscars of the food world. They give awards to several categories of cookbooks, journalism, chefs, media, and more (including humanitarian & lifetime achievement awards). The "They" is a group of Awards Committees consisting of food-industry professionals. The judges are chosen by the committees and choose the winners by reviewing all entries and voting via secret ballot. Oh and just to be fair, if you're a judge, you can't enter to win in that category.

So now that all the rules and regulations are spelled out let's talk about the winners. The big "star" of the night was David Chang (pictured) of Momofuku in New York who won the award for Rising Star Chef of Year. Also noteworthy was Traci Des Jardins of Rubicon here in San Francisco, she was one of the few female chefs to win anything (she won the Pacific regional award for Best Chef).

For the list of winners and a gallery of folks on the red carpet, including: Martha Stewart, Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi with NY's Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, Salman Rushdie and Bobby Flay (who was inducted into the Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America), read more

Winners list after the gallery. Check out the James Beard Foundation website for a full list of winners (including nominees).

View 27 Photos ›

RESTAURANT AND CHEF AWARDS

Outstanding Restaurateur Award
Thomas Keller of The French Laundry
Outstanding Chef Award
Michel Richard of Michel Richard Citronelle
Outstanding Restaurant Award
Frontera Grill Chef/Owners: Rick and Deann Bayless
Best New Restaurant
L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon
Rising Star Chef Of The Year
David Chang of Momofuku Noodle Bar
Outstanding Pastry Chef Award
Michael Laskonis of Le Bernardin
Outstanding Wine Service Award
Michel Richard Citronelle - Wine Director: Mark Slater
Outstanding Wine And Spirits Professional Award
Paul Draper of Ridge Vineyards
Outstanding Service Award
Tru Owners: Rick Tramonto, Gale Gand, and Richard Melman

BEST CHEFS IN AMERICA

Best Chef: Great Lakes
Grant Achatz Of Alinea

Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic
R. J. Cooper III of Vidalia
Frank Ruta of Palena

Best Chef: Midwest
Celina Tio of The American Restaurant

Best Chef: New York City (Five Boroughs)
David Waltuck of Chanterelle

Best Chef: Northeast
Frank Mcclelland of L’espalier
Best Chef: Northwest
John Sundstrom of Lark

Best Chef: Pacific
Traci Des Jardins of Jardinière

Best Chef: Southeast
Scott Peacock of Watershed

Best Chef: Southwest
Nobuo Fukuda of Sea Saw

Best Chef: South
Donald Link of Herbsaint

AMERICA’S CLASSICS

Aunt Carrie’s Owner: Elsie Foy
Brookville Hotel Owners: Mark and Connie Martin
Doe’s Eat Place Owners: The Signa Family
The Pickwick Owner: Christopher Wisocki
Primanti Brothers President: Demetrios Patrinos
Weaver D’s Owner: Dexter Weaver

BOOK AWARDS

Cookbook of the Year
The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook
Matt Lee and Ted Lee
Cookbook Hall of Fame
Moosewood Cookbook
Mollie Katzen
Asian Cooking
Cradle of Flavor
James Oseland
Baking and Desserts
Baking: From My Home to Yours
Dorie Greenspan
Cooking from a Professional Point of View
Grand Livre de Cuisine: Alain Ducasse’s Desserts and Pastries
Alain Ducasse and Frédéric Robert
Entertaining and Special Occasions
The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking and Entertaining
Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison
Food of the Americas
The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook
Matt Lee and Ted Lee
General
Tasty: Get Great Food on the Table Every Day
Roy Finamore
Healthy Focus
Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way
Lorna Sass
International
The Soul of a New Cuisine
Marcus Samuelsson
Reference
What to Eat
Marion Nestle
Single Subject
The Essence of Chocolate
John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg
Wine and Spirits
Romancing the Vine
Alan Tardi
Writing on Food
The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Michael Pollan
Photography
Michael Mina
Photographer: Karl Petzke

HUMANITARIAN OF THE YEAR

Art Smith

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Barbara Kafka

WHO’S WHO OF FOOD & BEVERAGE IN AMERICA

José Andrés
Jim Clendenen
Bobby Flay
Dorie Greenspan
Michael Pollan

Full list of winners - including nominees

Image Source