Flowers in the Kitchen

For some time I've been playing with the idea of using the above hibiscus flowers in a recipe. Well soon we shall see that recipe in action in a coming soon to a monitor near you video clip.

But I also wanted to comment on the general use of flowers in food. Many times I've seen edible flowers tossed in salads or used as a garnish. As pretty as this many seem it's overdone and serves very little purpose in a dish. It's IMO the culinary equivalent of curly parsley on a plate in the early 80s. If the flowers serve a functional flavor or purpose in the dish more power to you but if they're there just to be seen and not tasted I question there use.

Who had the soapbox next?

I'm Blind, the horror

I blogged about this event last month and now culinary karma has hit Paula Deen. The sad part is we are the real victims of this incident.

That's an Expensive Cookie

Yesterday, I was at a grocery store that may or may not start with W and end in HOLE FOODS. Looking at the bakery area I saw the cookie case, I can't help myself I love cookies, and noticed the chocolate chip cookies were $1.19 each. There is another local store here that charges $2.25 per cookie and they're pretty small.

Where is the ceiling on this cookie cost crisis? Are we far from seeing a standard chocolate chunk cookie being $4 each? What's causing this dramatic rise in cookie cost?

I'm sure many will point to the increased cost of butter and flour, which is true, but are we now living in a time where a dozen cookies could cost $24 or more. I know I can make several dozen of this cookie still for less then $24.

I'd like to hear from you what's the most expensive cookie price you've seen in your area during this C.C.C (Cookie Cost Crisis) ?

1 + 1 = Grill Cheese

Many times I've been called a food snob. I'm sure any one who considers them self a seeker of great food or a foodie has been been called the same name in both positive and negative terms.
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Well if eating grill cheese sandwiches makes me a food snob, then so be it. I feel that if I'm going to make a grill cheese sandwich I'm going to make the best damn sandwich I can. I've blogged this week about cheese and bread and thought it only natural the two came together in the classic grill cheese.
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A classic can become great with just a little shopping. I could make over dozen of the sandwich above and it would have cost me under $5 for both the cheese and bread. So, if being a food snob is being both cheap and wanting great food, then guilty as charged.

Enough Part 2

I admit I'm a masochist. I was on my elliptical machine last night with a headset on and flipping TV channels. I stumbled upon Food Network and Guy Fietti's "Ultimate Recipe Showdown" was on.

I've never seen the show but it's clear that Food Network is trying to put the Game Show Network out of business because every food network show seems to be a contest. I've even heard rumours that Chuck Woolery is developing a foodie dating game.

In the early days of TV when most of it was live the host of a show would some times walk over to a little platform and begin to sell/pitch an advertisers product. It seems Food Network is going all retro with their advertising. The Ultimate Recipe Showdown goes to commercial but suddenly Guy Fietti is back on my TV but this time he's in a kitchen. He proceeds to tell me how now I don't have to settle for just seeing all the great recipes being made on Ultimate Recipe Showdown but I can head on down to TGI Fridays and try them for myself. Isn't that great.

Typically infomercials have had to have a disclaimer place at the beginning of a show saying the following is a paid advertisement. Food Network has obviously created an infomercial disguised, poorly I may add, as a food cooking competition. Why don't we just drop the charade and admit that much of Food Networks programing is being created strictly to fit an advertisers need and they hope that the program keeps just enough of their audience to keep the advertiser happy.

I Love Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I'm really just sharing.

I find the cookie, in particular chocolate chunk, to be the perfect dessert. Small enough not to be overwhelming or too rich but large enough to satisfy that decadent dessert craving.

Here's a link to a previous post on cookies.

Enough!

I've thought long and hard about this post. When I was a kid I remember watching cooking shows and thinking that's neat the people are cooking on TV and having fun, that's a good job. It wasn't till later in life that I decided that I should put my efforts into a similar career.

After teaching thousands of students and meeting great people in the process. I am about to say what needs to be said, Food Network has officially been banned in my home. Call it
"jumping the shark", there better days are behind them, or they ain't what they use to be but I have had enough.

I stood by when the former host of Double Dare appeared on my TV telling me how cool it will be for me to watch how corn flakes are made. I stood silent, well I'm never silent, when Sandra Lee came on their network and slapped the face of all things culinary on a daily basis.

Today though I draw a line in the sand at this, the Fun and Fit as a Family event.

"The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival is pleased to announce the return of its groundbreaking childhood obesity prevention initiative -- South Beach Diet presents Fun and Fit as a Family featuring Kellogg's Kidz Kitchen. Taking place February 21 & 22, 2009 throughout Jungle Island, one of Miami's premiere theme parks, Fun and Fit as a Family will bring together the best culinary, fitness, food, and health personalities and professionals in the country to show the community how they can make healthier choices, and have fun doing it!"

So why would this be the my last straw with food network? Doesn't all of the above sound like a great idea? It does look like a great idea until you learn who will be doing the cooking demonstrations, drumroll please, Paula Deen, Guy Fieri...........PAULA DEEN are you kidding me?

I'm sure Paula is a lovely women, her shows and cooking style aren't my cup of tea but she's created a brand for herself and is successful so kudos to her. Her brand though I believe is butter not health, not fit, and arguably not fun.

I am organizing an event called "Politicians against graft and corruption". My keynote speakers are Sen. Ted Stevens and Gov. Rod Blagojevich both are sure to really connect with the topic.

In closing, I miss the Food Network where Mario Batali would speak of regions of Italy that are above the butter belt and Alton Brown was just a brainy guy who talked about the molecular reaction of molecules in a souffle and wasn't the host of a cooking contest. Those were the days when Food Network was truly about food and not shows that tell me how many potato chips are in a pringles can and certainly not send a host who has fried Twinkies to an event to raise awareness about child obesity.

Steak Dinner

I'm about to lose an endorsement, I don't get the traditional a la carte steakhouses.

They're in every city and they all claim to have the best steak in town. I'm not saying that their steak is bad but have you seen the prices on those steaks? The $30 plus charge for a steak alone is a heavy price to pay.

These prices seem even more insane when you consider you can buy quality beef in most stores for far less than $30 per pound. Some steakhouses claim to have the highest rated USDA cuts available which are labeled "prime" but even that isn't always the norm. Most grocery stores will have "choice" beef which is the grade just below "prime" on the USDA scale and some may even have "prime". The grading scale measures marbling (fat) content in relation to meat.

The result of buying a great steak and cooking it at home is seen above. This was my dinner tonight, a seared ribeye steak with a caramelized balsamic onion reduction. I feel it's a must to have an acidic element that balances a ribeye which has heavy marbling. I also added a hint of a curry plant which I'll talk more about tommorrow.

Oh the Meat-manity...

I know, raw meat eeww. Let's face it many of us love to eat meat but don't love to look at it before it's cooked. Now the student in a class that had a raw tomato phobia that was odd, a story for another time.

Next time your at the store look at the raw meat. What you'll see is a very sad selection of cuts available. In modern meat packaging very little butchery is done at the store. Most of the cuts are made at a processing/distribution center. Why is this lack of a true butcher shop important.

It creates many problems, but the biggest for me is not having any choice of cuts. Almost 80% of most meat cases and counters are full of steak and fillets only. Those cuts are not only expensive but honestly are not some of the better foods available.

I'd love to know from readers if you have a butcher in your area? Nothing would make me happier to know of sources where you could get a hanger steak or pork belly. This and other issues just get added to the list of why supporting local farms is important.

The Perfect Meal

There are few meals that are as universally accepted as tomato sauce. It goes by many names in many house holds sauce, gravy, Sunday sauce, marinara, meat sauce, tomato sauce and many others.

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The beauty of a great home made sauce is that from little kids all the way to seasoned culinary snobs like myself we all love a great bowl of pasta and sauce. My recipe is almost bordering on a Italian ragu' as I like to use either beef, veal, or pork shanks in the sauce. I also love to use a slightly spicy Italian sausage and and a liberal amount of bay leaf powder.

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No matter what your version might be tomato sauce might be the ultimate comfort food.

Warning Food Rant Ahead!

Less is more people.

Even in these tough economic times there is still the misconception that great food is complicated and that dishes with a few ingredients can not be great. Where this idea started I'm not sure, I have my belief that it is in someway tied into the scourge of super buffets that dot the landscape in the US. Where ever it started it needs to end.

Cooking is about food not the other way around. A chef is only as good as his or her ingredients and no ego can overcome that fact. Most great dishes have peasant roots and were a creation of necessity not an elaborate pantry. So to think that a dish with only 4 or 5 fantastic quality ingredients could not be better then a similar dish with an arms' length of ingredients is again not the case. In closing, quality not quantity.