Celebrity Chef Roundup: Books, TV/Film, Restaurants, Websites, News

tollbaby · Post by **tollbaby** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 4:00 pm

muchrooms? Is that what you grow when you've just plain run out of space?

Post by **Darb** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 4:12 pm

Xyrael wrote:Heh, for xmas I got a mushroom growing kit! We couldn't stop laughing.

I've actually messed around with that once, as a result of a gift from a fellow gourmand. I received a log that had been cultured with shitake spores, and over the course of a few weeks they grew out quite nicely ... but given the amount of yeild vs the trouble it was worth, I've opted to never do it again. It's cheaper and less messy for me to just buy them whenever I need them, because there are plenty of gourmet stores in my area, and I'm not really on a budget ATM.

Anyway, which variety did you get ?

Echus Cthulhu Mythos · Sat Dec 31, 2005 4:16 pm

Brad wrote: Anyway, which variety did you get ?

Magic ones, I hope.

Post by **Darb** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 4:27 pm

Mmmmmmmm ... Cream of Magic Mushroom Soup ...

Post by **wolfspirit** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:13 pm

But are tehy the green magic mushrooms, or the red ones?

Inquiring minds want to know.

wolfspirit

Post by **Darb** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:54 pm

Ya know, I actually entered and reviewed a book on mushrooms a ways back, and I actually remember trying to look up one of the varieties that has naturally occuring LSD ... and it appears the authors deliberately omitted it.

[sarcasm]
Gee, I wonder why ...

Post by **laurie** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 7:28 pm

Brad wrote:I actually remember trying to look up one of the varieties that has naturally occuring LSD ... and it appears the authors deliberately omitted it.

[sarcasm]
Gee, I wonder why ...

'Cause the authors were stoned?

tollbaby · Post by **tollbaby** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 8:00 pm

nah. it's cause they didn't want to share

Post by **Darb** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 7:54 pm

I'll be going to NYC at the end of the month.

I just tried Babbo, and the earliest seating I can get is 11pm.

I tried Per Se, and they're already booked through March 1st.

Next order of attack is trying a few connections to see if they can help swindle something.

That's the problem with big name places in NYC - the waiting lists can run upwards of 6-8 weeks.

Post by **Darb** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 8:01 pm

Ok, Plan C ... Mario Batali's new seafood restaurant: Esca (authentic southern italian) on West 43rd st. They have a $65/pp tasting menu that looks spiffy.

Dialing now ... damn, reservations are tight. I got a confirmed seating for Sat 1/28th, but it's still kinda late in the evening (but not as bad as Babbo).

Lemme see if I can leverage that into something a little better ...

Aunflin · Post by **Aunflin** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 8:01 pm

Sorry, Brad.

violetblue · Post by **violetblue** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 4:05 pm

I saw an advertisement on Food Network for a new show, Ham on the Street. It says on the website (paraphrased) that it combines food facts with things like hidden cameras. Huh. One of the clips showed him feeding people baby food and trying to guess what flavor it was. Hmm.

Here's the link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_hs. I'll reserve judgment until I see it!

violetblue · Post by **violetblue** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 9:33 am

I saw half of the Ham on the Street show last night. The topic was breakfast. George Duran, the host, asked people what they ate for breakfast, then had them try a breakfast he had made on a grill, which was two buttered slices of bread grilled with a piece of chocolate and a couple of slices of strawberry in the middle. Then he asked people what was the weirdest thing they'd eaten for breakfast. When one guy said pizza (wow, how revolutionary), they cut away to a kitchen where Duran then proceeded to make his version of a breakfast pizza. It consisted of a Boboli pizza crust layered with eight (!) scrambled eggs mixed with spinach, covered with cheese.

Now here's what I had for breakfast this morning, just so you know where I'm coming from: plain yogurt sprinkled with blueberries, and a whole-grain English muffin with natural fruit preserves. Eating buttered bread with chocolate in the middle makes my stomach turn, quite honestly. I'm not sure who their target audience is with these recipes.

Mr. Duran seemed comfortable in front of a camera, but I think they will have to go for broke and make the show really outrageous to make it work. Alton Brown's show is a lot funnier, from what I saw. We'll see how it progresses.

Post by **wolfspirit** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 10:49 am

Well, most mornings, I have animal crackers and a glass of water for breakfast. Unless I skip out entirely on breakfast.

wolfspirit

Sean Whitton · Post by **Sean Whitton** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 10:53 am

wolfspirit wrote:
Xyrael wrote:Heh, for xmas I got a mushroom growing kit! We couldn't stop laughing.
You should come out to where I live. WE have some of the best muchroom growing soil in the US, if not the world.

wolfspirit

Yes, but my joke was that it's a kit.

violetblue · Post by **violetblue** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 1:15 pm

wolfspirit wrote:Well, most mornings, I have animal crackers and a glass of water for breakfast. Unless I skip out entirely on breakfast.

wolfspirit

I called Food Network and told them I have found their target audience. Young, starving college students--genius! Animal crackers are fine, add an apple and a glass of milk and you're in business. I know, I am such a mom. Don't worry, I won't check your underwear.

I saw another interesting show on my local PBS station today. It's called America's Test Kitchen, from Cook's Illustrated magazine. Here's the link: http://americastestkitchen.com/default.asp. Apparently they test kitchen equipment to see what's best, then make a recipe, using ingredients they've tested to be the best. Today was pizza day, they tested pizza stones, peels, cutters... For cooks, there is a link toward the bottom of the page asking readers to give feedback on recipes they are considering for a new magazine. You have to register to see all the links, but it's free.

Post by **Darb** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 10:59 am

I've been a subscriper of Cook Illustrated for years ... in fact, they just published one of the tips I sent them in the last issue, which netted me a free 1-year extention on my subscription.

The TV series is a bit hard to find at times, but highly recommended. I really like their logical, methodical, informative and educational approach. They don't always reach the best/correct conclusions, but on the whole they're far more reliable and helpful than most. I hate authors who just expect you to take everything on faith, and not ask too many questions about why and how ... that show is the exact antithesis of that.

Alton Brown does something similar, and is more food-technical, but he also mixes in too much campiness.

In any case, C.I. is a highly recommended magazine - however, you can savemoney by just buying the hardbound editions from past years ... each volume has an entire year's worth.

I already entered some of their books into the IBDoF database a few months back.

Post by **wolfspirit** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 12:05 pm

violetblue: Depending on what goes on I have milk/OJ with my animal crackers.

Otherwise, over hte last couple of weeks, there has just been slop/pre-made food for dinners. No time for things like cooking (more like, no time to figure out what you would need to make anything).

I'm hoping to actual make a meal for the first time in three weeks tonight. Then our life can hopefully slow down.

wolfspirit

Post by **Darb** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 1:32 pm

I'm on for Esca.

violetblue · Post by **violetblue** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 4:56 pm

I am turning a delightful shade of frog green as I type this. Please post about the experience and what you ate after you go there.

violetblue · Post by **violetblue** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 5:06 pm

Brad wrote:I've been a subscriper of Cook Illustrated for years ... in fact, they just published one of the tips I sent them in the last issue, which netted me a free 1-year extention on my subscription.

The TV series is a bit hard to find at times, but highly recommended. I really like their logical, methodical, informative and educational approach. They don't always reach the best/correct conclusions, but on the whole they're far more reliable and helpful than most. I hate authors who just expect you to take everything on faith, and not ask too many questions about why and how ... that show is the exact antithesis of that.

Alton Brown does something similar, and is more food-technical, but he also mixes in too much campiness.

In any case, C.I. is a highly recommended magazine - however, you can savemoney by just buying the hardbound editions from past years ... each volume has an entire year's worth.

I already entered some of their books into the IBDoF database a few months back.

No kidding, well, I may have to try to send something in for their new country cooking magazine and see where it gets me. I'm not a "country" cook, but my mom was, so maybe I could give them some feedback on their new venture.

I think their recommendations definitely should be tailored to your individual tastes. For example, on the pizza show I saw, they didn't like the rocking pizza cutter (you know, the kind that looks like a long blade curved up at the ends with handles at each end) because they said it was too bulky but I thought it looked really cool and think I may have to get one of those.

Alton, campy! Watch your step, buddy. But you're right, he does like to review equipment on his show, also. So there are similarities. I will check out your link.

I'll post you a quick recipe, wolfspirit, on another thread. I am a sucker for the downtrodden.

Post by **Darb** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 5:11 pm

I'm definitely looking forward to hard-to-find species & truly authentic dishes and plenty of raw fare. I want tentacles. I want heads staring at me, with mouthes agape and shrouded in gentle whisps of steam, and doused with primo CPEV olive oil. I want eel, octopus, and bivalves, and mollusks, and wiggly things, and tiny fried bait fish, and keep it coming already !

Does my enthusiasm show ?

Unfortunately, Esca doesn't yet have a polished and detailed website like Babbo (which is more well established, and which has not one but two on-line tasting menus to oogle).

I'll take notes though - they'll probably think I'm a food and wine writer on the lam (and some years ago they'd have been sorta right, to a degree ... I used to run a newsletter for a bunch of foodies and amateur brewers and winemakers).

Post by **Darb** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 5:25 pm

On the off chance Mario is around, I'll encourage him to kick Rachel Ray's butt on Iron Chef. You already know Anthony Bourdain's, as well as my, opinion of people who are only on the food channel because they're perky personalities and pretty faces, rather than real chefs.

Rachel Ray wrote:"I'm not a chef," says Rachael. "I don't belong on 'Iron Chef.'

It's true ... Say it again !
Say it again !

Post by **Darb** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 5:38 pm

they didn't like the rocking pizza cutter

It's called a mezzaluna, which I believe is paisano-speaky for crescent moon. It's also the name of an excellent premium vodka. Anyway, it's one of those quirky avante garde gadgets for people who don't know how to use a proper chef knife.

(teasing)

I'm not really keen on the either - they're an acquired taste. I like a big sturdy oversize cutting wheel ... which I also use for cutting homemade pasta (I dont own or have space for a chitarra).

Post by **Kvetch** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 5:44 pm

I think they are great for chopping herbs - although a decent large knife is just as good.