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And Now For a Few More Words With Christopher Kimball

YumSugar — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:01:11 -0800

Yesterday we ran part one of our interview with Christopher Kimball - editor, TV personality, and all-around food superstar - and today we've got part two. In this section Kimball compares gourmet cooking to gourmet sex. If you want to know exactly what that means, you'll just have to keep reading.

YumSugar: When you cook for yourself, do you follow recipes, or do you just make things up as you go?
Christopher Kimball: I have preached the value of a limited-recipe repertoire at home for years. Most folks should start with just 25 or so recipes until they can make them from memory and make them well. Then expand from there. So I have my repertoire and for those, I don't need a recipe. Plus, there are master recipes for roasting, braising, sautéing, stewing, etc., which - once one gets the hang of it - can be improvised. That being said, if I am making someone else's recipe, I always follow it religiously the first time. If it looks suspect or something seems out of whack, I just won't make it at all.

YS: I read an interview with you in which you said, "I think the gourmet cooking thing is over. That happened in the '70s." With our easy accessibility to fancier ingredients and exotic spices, do you think this is true still? If so, why?
CK: Gourmet cooking is for restaurants, not home cooks. This is hobby cooking and, for the most part, I am against it. It implies that everyday cooking is a chore and something to be avoided. I would rather focus on really good, everyday cooking - from-scratch oatmeal, a really good pancake, the perfectly-cooked skillet steak - then get all caught up in exotic ingredients and cuisines that most of us are not intimately familiar with. That doesn't mean that one shouldn't try new things once in a while for fun. But what would you think of someone who was promoting "gourmet sex" or "gourmet childrearing?" What's wrong with the day-to-day stuff? And isn't that more important anyway?

For the rest of the interview - learn all about his four freezers! - read more

YS: What advice would you give to an aspiring home chef?
CK: Stop trying to be a chef! Home cooks are not chefs; they are cooks plain and simple. Even Julia Child never liked being referred to as the French Chef. She was a cook. Keep it simple. Start with a small group of recipes. Get really good at them. Make food that means something to you and your family. Stick to the basics. Don't be ashamed of a good grilled-cheese sandwich or oven-fried chicken. Enjoy yourself!

YS: And finally, if we opened up your fridge, what would we find?
CK: Well, if you opened our freezers (we have four of them) you would find over 1,000 lbs. each of beef and pork from our own animals plus frozen corn from the summer and frozen apple cider from our orchard. There would be no junk food. (We do have the odd jar of marshmallow fluff since my 17-year-old, Caroline, loves to make Moon Pies - at least that is what she claims.) The closest we get is store-bought yogurt although we often make our own as well. You would find our own eggs, our bacon (my favorite food), low-fat milk as well as whole (my one nod to the low-fat craze), pickles, our own homemade jams, mayonnaise, lots of mustards, lots of cheese and butter, a jar of anchovies and capers, the odd package of herbs in the Winter (in Summer we pick them from the herb garden), the odd vegetable, buttermilk (always have that on hand for baking), peanut butter (my wife demands that we refrigerate open jars), at least one bottle of opened white wine, etc. We also have a full root cellar where we store our own maple syrup, honey, potatoes, beets, carrots, and apples. Now I am sounding like Alice Waters! Oy!

And Now For a Few Words With Christopher Kimball

YumSugar — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:07:33 -0800

The folks behind America's Test Kitchen have just released a new book called America's Best Lost Recipes. It's a collection of heirloom recipes that could have easily gone missing forever if it wasn't for this collection.

Recently we had a chance to ask editor Christopher Kimball - the one with the bow tie - a few questions. He chatted about the new book, what goes on at the test kitchen, and why you should quit trying to be a chef, and start trying to be a great cook instead. Here's what he had to say:

YumSugar: What brought about the Lost Recipes collection?

Christopher Kimball: I am a huge fan of old cookbooks and old recipes but have wondered for years where all of these great old recipes went. But I wasn't interested in recipes that were purely historical or anthropological in nature - I wanted tried-and-true recipes that still resonated today. That is, one would really want to make and eat them. So, we started with a nationwide recipe contest for "lost" recipes and received 2,800 responses, selected 300 that seemed the most interesting, cooked them all, and finally whittled the list down to 121 recipes that were interesting, delicious, and also still, I hope, relevant for modern cooks.

YS: What was the most unexpected thing to come out of this collection?
CK: Oh, all of those cooking techniques that I had never heard of before. Baking a pound cake in an oven that is cold when you put the pan in. Or, making a chocolate cake with no eggs, milk, or butter. Or, and this was our winning recipe, putting peeled peaches around a pie plate, placing an upside down ramekin in the middle, drizzling a caramel sauce over them, topping with pie pastry, baking, and then, when baked, turning the whole thing upside down and all the juices have been sucked up into the ramekin. Now there is a magic trick for you!

To read the rest of part one of our interview with Chris, read more

YS: How would you explain Cook’s Illustrated and America’s Test Kitchen to our readers who are just learning about it?
CK: That's easy. We are a 3,000-square-foot test kitchen just outside of Boston that employees 35 full-time test cooks (almost 100 people total). Recipes are researched, a few sample versions are made and tasted, we construct our own recipe, and then we make it over and over again until we like it - like it a lot. In some cases, we have made a recipe over 100 times (our Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake comes to mind). We made over 1,000 pounds of fudge and never published the recipe in Cook's because it was not foolproof.

We publish two magazines - Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country - and we film the public television show, America's Test Kitchen, on the premises. We are also launching a new show on public television next summer based on Cook's Country magazine. It was filmed in Vermont in a house that was renovated specifically for Cook's Country.

YS: Could you explain more about your testing procedure? What does it take for you to publish a recipe?

CK: Each round of tests involves a blind tasting so we do not know which recipe is which. Each round focuses on one set of variables - cake flour versus all-purpose for example. Once we get that right, we move on to the next set of issues. Once a recipe is perfected, it is sent out to a former editor in San Francisco who makes it for her friends and gives us a fresh perspective. Then it is sent to 5,000 subscribers. About 150 to 200 of them will make it in the first week, and we use those ratings to continue revising the recipe. We need 80 percent of those surveyed to want to make the recipe again. If the ratio falls much below that, we go back to the drawing board. The whole process can take up to two months. Of course, not every recipe goes through this level of scrutiny. Here, I am talking about the recipes
that we publish in Cook's Illustrated.

YS: Who gets the final say on whether or not something is "finished"?
CK: A group of us review the reader surveys and taste the food to determine whether it is done or not. This includes our test kitchen director, our editorial director, two or three other editors, and then myself on a more cursory level near the end of the process.

Tomorrow Chris answers our questions about gourmet cooking, the difference between home chefs and home cooks, and we also learn about his FOUR freezers. Be sure to check back!

52 Weeks of Baking: Peach Puzzle

YumSugar — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:01:31 -0700

The magazine Cook's Country recently hosted a recipe contest where their readers sent in their old-school family recipes. The winner, a crafty "Peach Puzzle" looked delicious, but didn't really catch my fancy until I read the recipe. The whole thing is prepared like an upside-down cake - with an empty ramekin placed in the middle - and when flipped over the ramekin is surprisingly full of a sweet liquid treat! It's wonderfully old-fashioned, absolutely tasty, and I actually couldn't wait to tell everyone how it was made. If you're curious yourself, then check out the recipe now, read more

Definitely serve this one warm. I had leftovers and brought them in to the office the next day. Since the liquid didn't travel well (it spilled all over), the peach puzzle was completely soggy - still tasty, but awful to look at - and had lost its crispy crust.

Peach Puzzle
From Lois Schlademan of Stow, Ohio via Cook's Country Magazine

Serves 7

Lois says to choose peaches that are neither very ripe nor rock-hard. They should give a little when squeezed. Also, be sure to invert the pie plate quickly to avoid losing any of the syrup.

Peaches and Syrup
7 medium peaches , peeled (see note)
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
6 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Dough
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled
6 tablespoons milk

For the peaches and syrup:

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Place 6-ounce custard cup or ramekin upside down in center of 9-inch pie plate and arrange peaches around ramekin.
Combine brown sugar, water, butter, vanilla, and salt in medium saucepan and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and butter melts, about 5 minutes. Pour syrup over peaches.

For the dough:

Pulse flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in food processor until blended.
Add butter and pulse until flour mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse cornmeal, five to six 1-second pulses.
Turn mixture into medium bowl.
To make dough by hand: Use large holes on box grater to grate frozen butter into bowl with flour mixture, then rub flour-coated pieces between your fingers until flour mixture turns pale yellow and coarse.

To assemble:

Using rubber spatula, fold milk into flour mixture, pressing mixture against sides of bowl to form dough.
Squeeze dough together and flatten into disk. On lightly floured work surface, roll dough into 9-inch circle.
Lay dough directly over peaches and press dough so that it fits snuggly around peaches. The dough will stretch as you fit it around peaches, but do not attach dough to pie plate.
Bake until top is golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on rack for 30 minutes.

To Serve:

Place large rimmed serving plate over top of pie plate and quickly invert Puzzle onto plate.
Cut into wedges around each peach and serve, pouring syrup over each portion.

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Celebrity Chef Art Smith Scores New TLC Show

YumSugar — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:30:21 -0800

NBC and Fox aren't the only channels trying to nab a piece of the cooking show pie. So is cable channel TLC. Not only does the lifestyle network boast new programming like Cake Boss and the soon-to-air BBQ Pitmasters, but the channel has just ordered eight episodes of a new 30-minute series, Craving Comfort, starring celebrity chef Art Smith.

Rather than demoing dishes in the traditional cooking show sense, Smith will travel the country in search of America's most satisfying eats. Each show will focus on one particular comfort food, such as fried chicken or apple pie. Craving Comfort will debut in late 2010.

Smith, who owns Table Fifty-Two and was Oprah Winfrey's personal chef for a decade, recently starred in the Bravo series Top Chef Masters. I think David Chang is right in saying that comfort foods will be big in 2010, and that this show will take off. Are you a big enough fan of Art Smith to tune in?

Yummy Links: From Tony Bourdain to Shake Shack's Burger

partysugar — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:15:08 -0700

Has Anthony Bourdain lost his coolness? - Huffington Post
Turn string cheese into bloody fingers for Halloween. - Food Wishes Video
How does food affect your dreams?- Chow
5 books every cook should have. - The Atlantic
Guy Fieri currently has 15 impersonators across the country. - Eat Me Daily
Ruth Reichl believes print magazines will cease to exist in the very near future. - Eater
Learn how to make the Shake Shack's famous burger at home. - A Hamburger Today

Must Read: New York Cooks

partysugar — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:15:56 -0700

Everyone knows New York City is one of the country's top places for eating, so it comes as no surprise that a new cookbook, New York Cooks ($30), celebrates the city's chefs and restaurants. Since I don't live in NYC, I was very excited when I got my hands on a copy of the book. To find out what I thought of it, read more.

Pros:

Each chef has multiple recipes. Before the recipes, there are a couple of pages that describe the restaurant with interesting quotes and details from the chef.
From appetizers to entrees to salads, there's a wide variety of dishes.
Although the cover states there's 100 recipes, because many dishes have sauces or vinaigrettes, it seems like there are more than 100 recipes.
When I dined at Casa Mono, my favorite dish was the fideos with cockles and chorizo. The book has the recipe, so now I can re-create it at home!

Cons:

It's format is hard to follow - it's broken down into section by cuisine. Instead of listing out the recipes in the table of contents, only the cuisine, chef, and restaurant are mentioned.
New York's restaurant scene is forever changing and some of the chefs, for example Anne Burrell, are no longer working at the restaurants associated with their recipes.
Some recipes are complicated with lots of steps. They seem more suited to a restaurant than a home kitchen. Also, others lack detail.
There are no desserts.

Recipes: While I've never heard of a few of the restaurants or chefs, it is the recipes that are important. Here are the ones that caught my eye.

Anne Burrell's taleggio, speck, and egg pizzetta
Mikey Price's blood orange and red onion salad
Joey Campanaro's gravy meatball sliders
Michael Lomonaco's Philly cheesesteak sandwich

Imagery: This read is full of delicious-looking food images and fun restaurant shots. However, not all of them are in color. Every recipe does not have a corresponding picture. Some of the chef's photographs seem dated. After seeing her on Top Chef Masters, it looks as if the picture of Anita Lo was taken years ago.

Overall: This book is a wonderful collection of recipes. It would be an excellent gift to a foodie moving to or from New York. Any well-respected home cook who loves to dine out while vacationing in NYC will also enjoy this tome.

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Tyler Florence Hosts Search For the Greatest American Recipe

YumSugar — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:00:47 -0700

Tyler Florence may be slated to open several new restaurants and stores, but he's certainly not letting that get in the way of what he does best - TV. In addition to Tyler's Ultimate, his current show on Food Network, he's also teamed up with Lifetime and Parade magazine to host a new show, Search For the Greatest American Recipe.

The pilot, which begins production Sunday in Los Angeles, "will follow Florence as he travels to seven regions of the country to find unique homegrown recipes. Regional finalists then compete in a cooking competition that would lead to winning 'Greatest American Recipe.'"

In addition to hosting the show, TyFlo will also play the role of one of the show's judges. I'll be interested to see how the pilot pans out - after all, it sounds a bit like Food Network Challenge meets Chopped. Does Greatest American Recipe sound like something you'd watch?

How to Prepare For a BBQ Festival

YumSugar — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:50:23 -0700

Over the long weekend, while many of you were hosting barbecues of your own, I headed over to Sparks, NV, for the Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-Off, one of the country's largest outdoor barbecue events. I was more than stoked to chomp down on award-winning ribs all day long, but - given the scope of the festival and its four-hour driving distance from my house - I wanted to maximize my first experience there by being as prepared for the event as Michael Phelps was for the Summer Olympics. If you're planning on heading to a major barbecue festival (or any food extravaganza, for that matter), I've got some tips to share with you.

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Noteworthy Nibbles - Sept. 1-8, 2009

YumSugar — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:30:50 -0700

Even though Memorial Day seemed like yesterday, Labor Day's already crept up on us. If you don't have major travel plans for the long weekend, celebrate Summer's last hurrah with a gaggle of glorious food festivals, big and small.

Enjoy potjie, a three-legged South African cooking pot, in Texas, butterbeans in Alabama, and hamburgers in Pennsylvania.

The two events I'm really dying to attend? The famed Best in the West Rib Cook-Off and upstate New York's yearly Buffalo Wing Festival. Where will you make an appearance this weekend? Let us know in the comments below!

St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Cooks! - Sept. 1
New York, NY: Slow U: Ice Cream, From Sugar and Snow - Sept. 1
Millersport, OH: Millersport Sweet Corn Festival - Sept. 2-5
Sparks, NV: Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-Off - Sept. 2-7
Morgan City, LA: Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival - Sept. 3-7
Village of Pinehurst, NC: Pinehurst Food & Wine Fest - Sept. 3-7
Sonoma, CA: Sonoma Wine Country Weekend - Sept. 4-6
Kerrville, TX: Kerrville Wine & Music Festival - Sept. 4-6
Indianapolis, IN: Indianapolis Rib America Festival - Sept. 4-7
Rusk, TX: Texas Potjie Festival - Sept. 4-7
Denver, CO: A Taste of Colorado – Sept. 4-7
Cleveland, OH: Taste of Cleveland - Sept. 4-7
Fallon, NV: Fallon Cantaloupe Festival - Sept. 4-7
Hamburg, PA: Taste of Hamburg-er Festival - Sept. 5

To see the rest, read more.

Pinson, AL: Alabama Butterbean Festival - Sept. 5
Irvington, VA: Irvington Stomp - Sept. 5
Hatch, NM: Hatch Valley Chile Festival - Sept. 5-6
Millbrae, CA: Millbrae Art & Wine Festival - Sept. 5-6
Buffalo, NY: National Buffalo Wing Festival - Sept. 5-6
Shawnee, PA: Pocono Garlic Festival - Sept. 5-6
Arthur, IL: Amish Country Cheese Festival - Sept. 5-7
Bernalillo, NM: New Mexico Wine Festival - Sept. 5-7
Martin, TN: Tennessee Soybean Festival - Sept. 5-13
New Orleans, LA: The Big Two Revisted: Sazerac and Ramos Gin Fizz - Sept. 8

Source

Noteworthy Nibbles - Aug. 18-25, 2009

YumSugar — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:30:11 -0700

So much to eat, so little time. This week, we'll be warming up to the patio at the Magic Flute Garden Party, chowing down on dogs at Acme's Haute Dog Tasting, and enjoying the likes of El Huarache Loco at San Francisco's first Street Food Festival. I do wish I were in New York, however, to see the infamously meat-centric chef David Chang cook a vegetarian meal at the Beard House!

Care to share something delicious that's not on our radar? Please feel free to add in below.

New York, NY: Legends of Barbecue with Ed Mitchell - Aug. 18
San Francisco, CA: Summer Garden Party at the Magic Flute - Aug. 18
Houston, TX: Houston Restaurant Week - Aug. 18-23
New York, NY: Edible Evenings: Preserving America's Food Traditions - Aug. 20
San Francisco, CA: Haute Dog Tasting - Aug. 20
New York, NY: David Chang Does Vegetables - Aug. 20

To see the rest, read more.

Honolulu, HI: The Joy of Sake - Aug. 21
Milwaukee, WI: Milwaukee Wine Festival - Aug. 21-22
DeKalb, IL: DeKalb Corn Fest - Aug. 21-23
Mesa Verde, CO: Mesa Verde Country Food, Wine & Art Festival - Aug. 21-23
San Francisco, CA: San Francisco Street Food Festival - Aug. 22
Fremont, CA: Annual Cajun Zydeco Festival - Aug. 22
Paso Robles, CA: Paso Robles Olive Festival - Aug. 22
San Francisco, CA: Mac Battle Royale w/ Cheese - Aug. 23
Birmingham, AL: Taste of the Nation Birmingham - Aug. 24