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Don't Toss Your Sad Lettuce - Fix It!

YumSugar — Wed, 16 May 2007 09:58:31 -0700

We've all done it, we've bought lettuce with the perfectly good intention of turning it into salad, only instead of making a salad, we throw it in to the back of the fridge and forget about it for a while. We come back a few days later and find that the leaves look a bit sad and wilted. Well, what do you do? Do you toss it out? Nope! You soak it! Place washed lettuce leaves in a bowl (preferably stainless steel) filled with cold water, lemon juice and ice cubes. Soak for an hour in the refrigerator, then drain, dry and enjoy! Oh and let's be realistic here folks, if your lettuce is starting to turn to soggy mush, no amount of lemon juice is going to save it.

Iceberg Lettuce is Given the Cold Shoulder

YumSugar — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 13:13:38 -0700

Plastic wrapped, large round balls of iceberg lettuce were always present in my childhood fridge. However as I got older my beloved iceberg was replaced by romaine, spinach, arugula and even bitter greens. Turns out I'm not the only who turned their back on iceberg. Although it is still the nation's most prominent lettuce, iceberg has taken a back seat to other varied greens instead.

In 2006, 174,600 acres of iceberg lettuce were harvested in the United States, down from 198,500 acres in 1998, the first year for which U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics were available.

During the same period, the amount of harvested romaine lettuce increased from 36,450 acres to 61,000 acres. Green and red leaf lettuce harvests increased from 46,220 acres to 71,100 acres.

So why the sad slide into lettuce oblivion? At one point, iceberg was the only lettuce robust enough to make the supermarket journey without being damaged by ice. In fact, it actually received its name from the ice-filled train cars which shipped lettuce out. However, now that transportation and farming technology has advanced, more delicate greens - which once had to be consumed closer to home - can make the journey as well.

To entice customers, the country's largest lettuce supplier (Tanimura and Antle) is packaging its iceberg lettuce in plastic patterned with baseball stitching and including recipes for wedge salads printed on baseball cards.

Source: Topix

Meeting Marcus Samuelsson

partysugar — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:20:16 -0700

Last week I was invited to a demonstration hosted by Chef Marcus Samuelsson. An awarding-winning chef and cookbook author, Samuelsson is known for his role as chef and owner of Aquavit, New York City's innovative restaurant devoted to Scandinavian cuisine. Taking inspiration from his Ethiopian roots, the chef recently opened his first African restaurant, Merkato 55. His love for African cuisine was illustrated at the demo where he cooked shrimp piri piri in lettuce wraps and rack of lamb with couscous. In San Francisco to promote BlueStar cooking ranges, Samuelsson took some time out of his hectic schedule to speak with me. To see where he likes to eat in San Francisco and hear what he has to say about his buddy Rocco DiSpirito, read more.

Samuelsson is friendly yet focused, personable yet professional. The chef, who was angered by buzzed, pretentious fans who interrupted our interview, clearly values respect, privacy, and consideration.

His favorite places to eat in San Francisco: Samuelsson enjoys the Ferry building and all it has to offer. He recommends "the Mexican food stand behind the building" because "it has the most amazing breakfast burrito." The Slanted Door and Coi are other favorites.
The difference between food in San Francisco and food in New York: Both cities are incredibly "magical in different ways." Out of the two, "New York has a true reflection of the world. The entire world is right there. However, New York doesn't have the same sort of relationship to farmers. The relationship, the bond that the chef has with farmers, that was started by Alice and the Berkeley hippies is still something that is very San Francisco."

The ingredients he can't live without: Anything in season. Samuelsson enjoys the farmers' markets and is quick to point out that New York City has over 42 farmers' markets.

On a typical night at Merkato: The restaurant is so new that he is focusing on communicating. It's his goal to teach everyone (the customers, his staff, food writers, the purveyors) the "elegant nuisances of African food." Although the majority of African ingredients can be found in 13 mom and pop stores, Samuelsson hopes that in the future African ingredients will be common and found in stores nationwide.

His tip for the everyday home cook: Understand the seasons. Look at food as you would clothes. Just as you wear certain things in the Winter and other things in the Summer, you should do the same with food. Even fish has seasons. If he were to serve a meal tonight, he would use wild salmon and pair it with delicious heirloom tomatoes. He says, "rather than try and make complicated dishes, make simple dishes that highlight the food that's in season."

What he thinks of his pal Rocco DiSpirito: Samuelsson feels Rocco is tragically misunderstood by the food industry. He believes Rocco is the best chef in America and is sad that one teeny mistake ruined his reputation as a chef. He's also confident that Rocco has what it takes to make a come back

After speaking with the chef, I was eager to get home and practice what he preached. The next time I'm in New York, I hope to eat at one of his restaurants.

Source

Getting to Know Anne Burrell

partysugar — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:00:08 -0700

Let me introduce you to Anne Burrell. Anne's a multi-tasker with many roles in the food industry. First and foremost, she's the executive chef of a restaurant, Centro Vinoteca, in New York City. She works at the restaurant six days a week and isn't much of a home cook. In her downtime Anne competes as Mario Batali's sous chef on Iron Chef America. However, her latest role is as a hostess of Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, a new show on Food Network. This Sunday (at 9:30 a.m.) Anne's coming to a kitchen near you and she's teaching you how to cook like she does in her Centro Vinoteca. Earlier this week I chatted with the former Culinary Institute of America instructor, to see what she had to say, read more.

PartySugar: With your show, what are you hoping to teach the American people?
Anne Burrell: I want to help people understand that they can do restaurant food at home. I want to take the fear factor out of cooking. Cooking is such a daunting task to a lot of people and it doesn't have to be. It's not really rocket science. Once you know the techniques, like how to understand high heat, you can do it. When you cook, you have to be entirely comfortable. Cooking is like a dog when you're nervous, it knows your nervous. A lot of people think that cooking is genetic, and they say, oh I cook because my mom cooked. But cooking isn't genetic, you have to learn how to do it first before it becomes common sense. In the restaurant, we are always looking for ways to maximize flavor and minimize effort and that's what I'm going to teach you to do.
PS: Tell me about working with Mario Batali on Iron Chef.
AB: Well this season we are not doing it, due to conflicts in Mario's schedule during filming, but we are still very much a viable team. Being on Iron Chef is every bit as stressful as it seems. I just do my best and tell myself, I'm not going to be the reason Mario loses.

PS: What's your advice to the every day, home cook?
AB: My advice, sadly it doesn't seem that exciting, is to read the recipe! Read the recipe from start to finish before you begin to cook. When I was learning how to cook, I never wanted to read the recipe, but now I see how important it is because you can start doing what I call "crap detecting" where you filter out steps. Basically, you modify the recipe to get rid of the crap. Sometimes you'll read a recipe that says, saute the onions in one pan and the mushrooms in another and later you will combine the two in the same pan, so why not eliminate those first steps? Saute them both in the same pan, and save time while making the dish more flavorful.

PS: What's your favorite kitchen tip?
AB: Use salt! Generously use salt. Taste everything as you go along. Really sitting and tasting the food is something the home cook is reluctant to do. Food should taste good, you have to control that quality.

PS: What did you have for lunch today?
AB: I had a turkey sandwich on rye toast with mayo, lettuce, and potato chips. I always put potato chips in my sandwiches because I like that crunch.

Now that you know a little bit more about Anne, will you watch her show?

Source

Exercise in Excess: Feasting at The French Laundry

YumSugar — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 08:01:31 -0700

A little while back, I confessed to never having eaten at a single one of the 50 best restaurants in the world. Well, last week I finally fixed that by dining at Thomas Keller's number 4 ranked (number 1 in the US) The French Laundry of Yountville, CA (Napa wine country). The menu there consists of two options: the chef's tasting menu or the taste of vegetables menu, so unfortunately there's no popping in and ordering a la carte. In fact, there's no popping in of any sort - we had our reservations booked two months in advance, and even those were hard to come by. The meal itself is rather pricey, but I felt worth it for the food, atmosphere service and experience. It's not something I could see myself doing often, mostly for financial reasons. When I told everyone that I went, the first question was, "was it worth it?" followed shortly by, "what did you eat?" To find out the answers and see a parade of delectable pictures, read more

The evening started off by being presented bottles of both still and sparkling water. The still water was from Hildon and my friend Eric made sure that I noted that the bottle said it was "An English Natural Mineral Water of Exceptional Taste." Once we were settled in with waters, we (there were four of us) all decided to go with the Chef's tasting menu. The vegetable menu looked great, but I knew I would be sad not to get the chef's menu. Once our menus were chosen and our variations (a few dishes had options) selected, it was time for the amuse-bouches.

The two amuses were little gougeres (cheese bread puffs) served on a warm plate, and red onion crème fraiche filled, black sesame cornets topped with salmon tartare. I could have eaten just these and been quite a happy camper.

Next up is the "Oysters and Pearls," "Sabayon" of Pearl Tapioca with Beau Soleil Oysters and White Sturgeon Caviar. This is one of of the only dishes that is served just about every evening, and after tasting it, I know exactly why. The oysters were great, the caviar delectable and the texture amazingly creamy. It was like a savory tapioca pudding, everything just melted in my mouth. They followed this up with one of the best breads I'd ever eaten. A "brioche-like" roll and I must say, if this recipe is in either the French Laundry or the Bouchon Bakery cookbook, this will be disaster for my waistline.

After the caviar it was time for Moulard Duck "Foie Gras Au Torchon" "Compressed" Strawberries, Purple Top Turnips, Frisée Lettuce and Black Truffle "Gastrique" served with fresh buttery rich brioche. This dish was smooth, creamy and totally my undoing. I should have eaten only part of it, but I devoured it instead. In fact, I had more than one helping of brioche. Along with the brioche, the foie gras was also served with a trio of fancy salts.

At this point we were only 2 of 9 courses in to the meal, and on our 3rd glass of wine. Like I said, the whole evening was an exercise in excess! Be sure to come back for tomorrow for part 2 of my French Laundry recap!