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Making the Most Fabulous Fondue

partysugar — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:03:51 -0800

While it may seem incredibly easy to throw a bunch of cheese into a pot and melt it, crafting a super-creamy fondue takes a little skill. In the February issue of Vogue, Jeffrey Steingarten acknowledges that the perfect fondue is hard to find. He said:

Fondues as smooth and suave as this are rare; more often the cheese separates and settles on the bottom of the pan in stringy clumps and lonely curds whose flavor is as fine as the cheese they're made from, but that congeal in the mouth into tough and chewy balls not unlike chaws of bubble gum.

No one would want to serve a chunky fondue like the one Steingarten describes. To ensure that you never make a bad fondue again, check out my tips for creating silky fondue, just read more.

Use the best-quality cheese you can afford. When making the classic Swiss version, use gruyere instead of emmentalar. Avoid using low-fat cheeses as they don't melt well.
Similar to a vinaigrette, fondue is an emulsion of melted cheese and wine, so keep that in mind when you are whisking the two ingredients together.
Use a dry white wine and add a little fresh lemon juice to provide acidity.
Cook over a low temperature and never let the fondue boil.
Before using a new fondue pot, break it in by boiling a mixture of half water, half milk for 15 minutes.
Never add all of the cheese at once to the pot. Add the cheese by the handful, stirring between additions to ensure a smooth, melted texture.
When setting up fondue, place in a part of the table that is accessible as you don't want guests reaching to get to the fondue. Place pots on different tables to ensure that everyone isn't crowded around one table.

Got a great tip for making fondue? Please share with us below!

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Summer Reading: The Man Who Ate Everything

partysugar — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 03:27:31 -0700

Jeffrey Steingarten is my absolute favorite food journalist. He was an extremely successful lawyer before he switched careers and found his foodie calling. You may recognize his name from the judging table on Food Network's Iron Chef America, or the glossy pages of Vogue magazine. His witty, engaging articles about everything from the perfect egg to Spanish ham to the production of apple brandy are interesting, informative, and friendly. I hate to admit it, but I look forward to his stories each month more than I do the fashion ads! If you're not an avid Vogue reader, I highly recommend reading his first book, The Man Who Ate Everything, which is a collection of his Vogue essays. His detailed descriptions of food, combined with his actual attempts to create culinary masterpieces in his own kitchen, make for a fun and engaging read.

A New Battle Begins Over The Next Iron Chef!

YumSugar — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:45:51 -0700

Days before the season finale of The Next Food Network Star - and hot off the heels of another captivating Top Chef Masters round - we've learned more about another foodie reality TV show. After the first successful iteration of The Next Iron Chef in 2007 (alums Michael Symon, Chris Cosentino, and Aaron Sanchez have all become Food Network personalities), the show is returning for a second season on Oct. 4.

This season will purportedly "take the contestants from Los Angeles to Japan to New York to compete in the food fight of their professional lives." Alton Brown hosts once again, with the competitors facing the wrath of three judges: returning panelist and restaurateur Donatella Arpaia, Vogue food writer Jeffrey Steingarten, and sustainable advisor (and Slow Food Nation director) Anya Fernald.

Who will be next to join the likes of Bobby Flay, Cat Cora, Mario Batali, Michael Symon, and Masaharu Morimoto (who just confirmed plans to open his first West Coast restaurant)? I've got my speculations - and I'd love to hear yours below. Find out who the 10 contenders are.

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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Summer Reading Roundup

YumSugar — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 05:12:37 -0700

Can you believe that August is over already? We hope that you all enjoyed August's summer reading month features. We've had thirty-one options that range from vegetarian cooking, shopping list mockery, world history, children's cooking, vacations, fine dining and more. In case you missed any of them, I've compiled them all in one place for easy perusal, or for you to printout and take to the bookstore!

And don't worry, just because summer reading month is over, doesn't mean we'll stop talking about tasty reads! To check out the full list, read more

Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison
The New Outdoor Kitchen by Deborah Krasner
I'm Just Here For The Food by Alton Brown
Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
The Cuisines of Spain by Teresa Barrenechea
Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans
French Women For All Seasons by Mireille Guiliano
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Be My Guest by Rena Kirdar Sindi
On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee
The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins
Candyfreak by Steve Almond
The Wine Club by Maureen Christian Petrosky
Small-Batch Baking by Debby Maugans Nakos
Barefoot Contessa Parties! by Ina Garten
The Gastronomical Me by MFK Fisher
The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten
Milk Eggs Vodka by Bill Keaggy
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
Something Delicious This Way Comes by Joshua Ploeg
The Great American Camping Cookbook by Scott Cookman
Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl
Martha Stewart's Hors D'oeuvres by Martha Stewart
Sweets: A History of Candy by Tim Richardson
Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy by Joseph Bastianich and David Lynch
Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky
Fanny at Chez Panisse by Alice Waters
Cooking with Curtis by Curtis Stone
Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson
The River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Cocktail Parties With a Twist by Alexandra and Elliot Angle

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