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Anne Burrell's Secrets of a Restaurant Chef

partysugar — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:00:48 -0800

At her demonstration in South Beach, chef Anne Burrell was full of strong opinions that she was more than happy to share with the crowd. In between drinking pink Champagne and going off on several rants, Burrell managed to make a savory Tuscan fish stew. She also had some great pointers on cooking in general. To see what you should be doing to become a better, more restaurant-like home cook, read more.

Take the time to set your mise en place. "I always, always, always do my mise en place before I cook. It makes things easier," Burrell says.
You should feel comfortable in your kitchen. Own the space and take control of your surroundings. Anne believes, "the food knows when you are feeling happy. If you're happy, the food will taste better."
Strongly grip knives for smoother chopping.
Carefully read a recipe from start to finish before you start to cook. That way you can eliminate useless steps and flavors that you dislike.
When heating a pan, set the cold pan on the burner, add the oil, then turn on the heat. "The only way you can tell that a pan is heated is if the butter has melted or the oil is shimmering."
Purchase shellfish that's sold in mesh bags. If you buy clams or mussels that are in plastic bags, you may be getting dead shellfish. The plastic makes them suffocate.

Do you like to watch Anne Burrell? Have you learned anything from her?

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?

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Anne Burrell Talks Terrible Cooks and the Year Ahead

YumSugar — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:45:00 -0800

If you've ever wondered what the world's most unappetizing dishes look like, here's your chance to find out. On Jan. 3, Food Network is exploring the opposite end of the culinary spectrum with Worst Cooks in America, a new reality TV series showcasing some of the nation's biggest kitchen failures.

I spoke with Food Network chef Anne Burrell - who, along with Beau MacMillan, is one of the show's hosts - about the new series, the biggest fail of a dish she's ever had, and her year ahead. More, after the jump.

Yummy Links: From Pasta Sauce to Caveman Diets

partysugar — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 06:50:53 -0800

Learn the correct way to sauce pasta. - Chow
Does an edible school garden really affect how well kids do in school? - The Atlantic
Giada De Laurentiis is developing a cookware line for Target. - The Epi-Log
Must make: white bean bisque with garlic chips. - Serious Eats
Gail and Padma reveal secrets from behind the scenes of Top Chef. - Grub Street NY
The mayor of New York City has asked food companies and restaurants to cut salt content by 25 percent. - Eater NY
The latest trendy diet? Eating like a caveman. - New York Times

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).

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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

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Going Inside the Cooking Loft With Alex Guarnaschelli

partysugar — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:00:12 -0700

This weekend the Food Network debuts its newest show, The Cooking Loft. Like Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, the host of the show, Alex Guarnaschelli is the head chef of a popular New York City eatery, Butter. The Cooking Loft is an interactive show in which Alex teaches a group of students how to make several dishes with a specific ingredient. After watching an episode of the show, I was excited to speak with Alex on the phone. To find what she had to say, read more.

Alex was exposed to food from an early age because her mom was a cookbook editor. She's worked at acclaimed restaurants in New York and Los Angeles, but it was her appearance on Iron Chef America that started her relationship with the Food Network. She refers to the network as "one big happy family" and is nervously awaiting the debut of her show.

PartySugar: With your show what are you hoping to teach the American people?
Alex Gauranaschelli: I think the most important thing people should learn from my show is how fun and easy cooking can be. All you have to do is something simple, make things special, more unique, more flavorful.

PS: What's your criteria when considering dishes to feature on your show?
AG: The show is topic driven. We have a very unique format. We first choose the ingredient - tomatoes, chicken, etc. - and than I pick my favorite recipes. I like to take a different approach, to teach people how to reinvent ingredients, reinvent the basics.
PS: Are you worried about how the New York restaurant industry will respond to your show?
AG: I find the New York restaurant industry to be one big family. I'm hoping it will be well-received, but honestly I'm more worried about how my tomato recipes will look.

PS: What is your guilty pleasure food?
AG: What? Like stuff I keep hidden from other people? My homemade guilty pleasure is my mom's chocolate cake with caramel, we feature the recipe on the show. Of processed foods, it's a tie between Cool Ranch Doritos and Oreos. They are actually really good together. I like to make a little sandwich. It's quite appetizing, you get all salted up with the chips and cool it off with the sweet oreos.

PS: What did you have for lunch today?
AG: I'm glad you asked me! I had a really chefy lunch. I had a salad with lolla rosso [a type of lettuce] and shallots. I made an omelette with local eggs and goat cheese and I cooked it really slowly until the goat cheese melted, then I rolled it up and put it on top of the lettuce. It was so good, it was like a religious experience.

PS: Beer or wine?
AG: Wine.
PS: Cookie or cake?
AG: Cake
PS: Soup or salad?
AG: Soup
PS: Iron Chef or Top Chef?
AG: That's cruel! Iron Chef.
PS: Los Angeles or New York?
AG: New York
PS: Butter or olive oil?
AG: Butter
PS: Potatoes or pasta?
AG: Pasta
PS: Truffles or foie gras?
AG: Truffles
PS:Crème brulee or panna cotta?
AG: Neither, creme caramel.

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Must Read: It's About Time

partysugar — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:15:09 -0800

If you live in the Boston area you may be familiar with Chef Michael Schlow.
A James Beard Award-winning chef, Schlow owns three wildly successful restaurants: Radius, Via Matta, and Great Bay. Although I've never dined at one of Schlow's establishments, I recently got my hands on his cookbook, It's About Time ($24.71).

Different from most cookbooks, this tome is not separated into courses. Instead each section represents a specific time - be it a cooking time (Time to Eat and Now) or a time in one's life (Time to Celebrate). To find out more about this excellent cookbook, read more.

Pros:

Unlike some cookbooks by restaurant chefs, this publication is totally accessible to the home cook.
There's something for everyone, from the busy mom desperate to feed her kids healthy food fast to the culinary bachelor looking to impress his latest fling with cooking expertise.
You really get to know Michael Schlow as a chef and as a person. In some aspects, this book is autobiographical.
The recipes use common ingredients and feature classic techniques that the home cook will be familiar and comfortable with.

Cons:

The organization of the recipes is hard to follow. The ingredients are listed on the far side of the page and instead of numbering the steps, the instructions are in an easy-to-get lost bulleted list.
Some of the recipes require cooking gadgets - like a mandoline - that most people might not own.

Recipes: There are over 150 recipes that cover every course from appetizers to cocktails to dessert. While the majority are simple, a few are complex with seemingly endless steps. Still, there are plenty that I am interested in making:

Steamed Prince Edward Island mussels with spicy tomato and herb broth
Yukon gold potato soup with shrimp, bacon, and potatoes
Secret agent raspberry bars
Clams in broth
Veal Milanese with arugula, tomato, and red onion salad
The Schlow burger
Jimmy's dancing punch
Homemade ravioli
Individual lemon sabayon tarts

Imagery: The book is filled with pictures, big and small, of the dishes, of the process of cooking an item, and of the ingredients. However, some are in color and others are in black and white; some are centered on the page and others are coarsely chopped out of the book. These inconsistencies aside, the photos are beautiful and mouth-watering.

Overall Rating: This book was a very exciting find, and I look forward to experimenting with Schlow's recipes. While it would not be my first choice for a novice home cook, it would make a great gift for a cookbook collector or foodie who loves recipes.

How To Host a Chili Cook-off

partysugar — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:00:40 -0800

Yesterday morning I had the pleasure of speaking with three of San Francisco's busiest chefs, the men behind the PlumpJack restaurant kitchens. Jack Falstaff's Jonnatan Leiva, PlumpJack Cafe's Rick Edge, and Balboa Cafe's Jose Lemus each stopped by Balboa to deliver a batch of their ultimate chili. The chefs, along with the firefighters of Station 16, are taking part in an annual chili cook-off, benefiting the San Francisco Firefighter Toy Program. Each chef submitted a recipe for a different type of chili. From now until Friday, November 7th, diners at Balboa will have the chance to sample all four and vote on their favorite. If you don't live in San Francisco you may not be able to taste the chili, but you could host your own chili contest! A chili cook-off is the perfect alternative to a formal Thanksgiving dinner or ideal for game day. To check out my ideas for hosting your own chili cook-off and the PlumpJack chefs' tips for making the best chili, read more.

When Hosting:

Start by asking a few friends (who enjoy cooking) if they would like to submit a recipe for your contest. Be sure you have enough space to keep the chili warm. For example, if four guests are bringing chili, you'll need four stove tops or oven space for several large pots.
A batch of chili serves a large group, so invite a bunch of people over to be judges.
To ensure that the kitchen isn't over crowded, have guests bring the finished chili dish.
Keep the menu varied and interesting by assigning each chef a different type of chili. The Balboa menu includes a beef chili, a pork chili, a vegetarian chili, and a super spicy chili.
Set up a toppings bar with grated cheese, sour cream, charred limes, chopped cilantro, tortilla chips, cornbread, etc.
Make the judging anonymous. Give each chili a letter. Print out score sheets and grade the chilis based on taste, texture, smell, color, etc.
Decorate with dried corn and colorful chili peppers.
Serve plenty of cold beer.
Have prizes (a bottle of wine, a limited-edition flavor of Tabasco) for the winning chili.

When submitting a chili recipe:

Keep the recipe simple.
Get a good flavor base by slowly cooking the onions and garlic.
When making vegetarian chili use a lot of vegetables. Grilled mushrooms and grilled tofu are hearty substitutes for meat.
For maximum flavor-melding, cook the chili for a long time. If you need more stove top space, cook the chili in the oven.
Roast chili peppers before adding to the chili.
Take the time to brown the meat before adding it to the chili pot.

Have you ever hosted or attended a chili cook-off? What is your secret for making the perfect chili?

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One On One With Gail Simmons - Part 1

YumSugar — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:10:40 -0700

A few weeks ago PartySugar and I were supposed to meet Top Chef's resident ice queen - yes, the one from Food & Wine magazine - only she never showed up. Instead we met the wonderfully sweet, surprisingly goofy Gail Simmons. So how does someone so nice get such a bad-a** reputation? Turns out it's all due to editing, but we'll get to that later.

We met Simmons, who was in town for a wine festival in Sonoma, at Boulettes Larder for a picturesque breakfast at the Ferry Building. And while she wouldn't divulge any Top Chef secrets - except to say that a lot of the blogs have been wrong, something that was obvious last week - she did offer up a few behind the scene tidbits, as well as the rundown of her career - and yes, she is perfectly qualified to be a judge.

If you've ever wanted to know more about this Top Chef judge, check out part one of our interview with her. And be sure to come back next week for part two! read more

We started the morning off with a little bit of random chit-chat - she was miraculously given a convertible at the rental car agency and was picking up Season 2 winner Ilan Hall at the airport - but quickly moved on to how she got her start. Believe it or not, her mother ran a small cooking school and wrote a food column, I guess you could say a culinary career was in her genes.

"My mother had a food column. - I'm from Canada. I'll confess, that's my dirty little secret. I grew up in Toronto. - She was writing for the Globe and Mail [Canada's largest national paper] and had a small cooking school out of our home. That being said, I never wanted to be anything like my mom. Not for any reason, as she's extraordinary, but at the age of 18, you don't want to be told you're just like your mom."

Although her future was right in front of her nose, Gail Simmons had to go out and do something for herself. First stop was McGill University in Montreal where she majored in anthropology and Spanish language. While there she cooked for herself and her friends and eventually started writing restaurant reviews for the school paper.

"Even though my mother was in the food industry, for most of my life, it never occurred to me that that could be a career. When I graduated all of my friends were literally going to law school, medical school, or doing their MBAs. When you'd go around the table and get to Gail it was like, 'Well, I really like to eat.'"

Unsure of what was next, she moved back to Toronto and received an internship at a monthly magazine called Toronto Life. While there she found herself being drawn to the food department. After a few small pieces and reviews, she realized that she couldn't deny it any longer, she was following her mom's footsteps. With a short stint at the magazine on her resumé, she transferred to a new national newspaper where it became evident that in order to move up in this newly-found profession, she would have to learn more about food. So she packed her bags - or should I say knives - and moved to New York to attend an impacted culinary school program.

"I loved it, it was like food camp. All of a sudden I realized I knew nothing about food, and I don't know how I thought I did before. You realize that the language of food and the language of chefs is so different. But it definitely solidified that I was in the right place. I figured it out, I found out what I wanted to do."

However, it wasn't enough to have a culinary school education under her belt. In order to be bonafide, she had to serve some time in a real kitchen. She first cooked at Le Cirque 2000 and later at Jean-Georges's Vong.

"It was the hardest job I've ever had in my life. The only time I've ever lost weight was when I worked in a kitchen. It was a lot of hardwork, you're on your feet all day. It was super demanding on my body and on my mind. The first few years of being a cook is really manual labor. Tons and tons of carrots, or the perfect dice."

After a while she realized that she wanted to use the writing side of her brain more and by a stroke of good luck and a lot of serendipity, she ended up landing a gig as Jeffrey Steingarten's assistant.

"I was talking with the school's career services director and he asked me what my dream job was. I had just finished The Man Who Ate Everything and said that my dream job was to be Jeffery Steingarten's assistant. He looked at me and said, 'That's so funny, he's looking for an assistant.' I swear to you, that was exactly how the conversation went. That was a Friday, I got my resume in on Monday, I interviewed Wednesday and got the job the following Friday... Alone in a house with him for two years, making goose, after goose, after pizza, after goose, was a crazy adventure."

After two years with Steingarten, she became the special events manager for Daniel Boulud's The Dinex Group and is currently the Special Projects Manager for Food & Wine Magazine.

See folks? I told you that she was qualified to judge! And now that you know a little bit more about her, wait until you discover what she thinks about reality TV, food trends, and what she'd be doing if she wasn't in the food world. Be sure to come back next week for part two of our chat with Gail!

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All the News That's Fit to Eat - Oct. 22, 2008

YumSugar — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:00:08 -0700

Making pasta at home is the perfect cooking project for kids. - Los Angeles Times
A New York judge awarded $4.6 million to 36 underpaid delivery workers. - New York Times
How are new restaurant projects preparing for hard times ahead? - Boston Globe
Spike Mendelsohn of Top Chef offers a primer on cooking Vietnamese. - Washington Post
The right tools and ingredients are the secret to making golden loaves at home. - Chicago Tribune
Which store-bought turkey bacon brand tastes the best? - San Francisco Chronicle
Ferment your own sauerkraut with this basic recipe.- The Oregonian
In response to overfishing, several conservation groups have worked together to produce sustainable sushi guides. Get your pocket sushi selector today. - Associated Press

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