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

[tollbaby]

it isn't? I've always had tartaric acid in my kitchen....

[Darb]

I believe Cream of Tartar and Tartaric Acid are very similar ... I think the former is milled to a fine whte powder, whereas the latter has a much grittier texture, similar to granulated sugar. I've never used the fromer, and since I have a large 5lb tub of the latter (courtesy of a winemaking relative), I probably never will. Other than it being chemically identical, I cant tell you much about the former.

Incidentally, winemakers prefer tartaric acid because:

1) Unlike citric acid (which has a strong citrusy taste reminiscent of lemon cough drops) and malic acid (which has a strong nuance of tart green apples), tartaric acid has a neutral flavor ... in fact, it's often extracted from grapes.

2) Tartaric acid is more stable in solution. Malic, for instance, can get broken down by a type of fermention called malolactic fermention, which decomposes malic into weaker lactic acid (the primary acid present in dairy products) ... which is one of the processes behind the flavor difference between a steel vat fermented chardonnay (which often has nuances of green apples ... that's the malic acid) and barrel fermented chardonnay (which is less acidic and has more of a softer buttery-oaky finish ... that's lactic acid and vannillins from the wood).

- Winemaking 201

[violetblue]

it isn't? I've always had tartaric acid in my kitchen....

Perhaps you are a wanna-be foodie.

Keep the wine-making tips coming. If my grapes grow, I will be looking for them.

[Darb]

What variety of grapes are you growing ? Eating grapes I hope.

If they're winemaking grapes, you're wasting your time if you're growing them from seed, because of phyloxera ... you'd need to buy resistant root stocks, and graft on the desired variety of grape you want, and then you've got a long wait, and a lot of vine grooming, before you'll have fruit that's of sufficient quality to make decent wine with. Also, most wine grapes have lots of seeds, which arent really eating-friendly.

[Darb]

One of my new favorite shows is "Dinner Impossible" ... I like it because it's so real. Real on-site catering is like that.

[violetblue]

Has anybody been watching the American version of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares? It's OK, but not as good as the BBC version. It's been very formulatic so far... they go in, everything's a mess, everybody yells, renovate restaurant (which really bugs my husband, because they didn't do that on the BBC one), crappy first service which gets saved at the last moment, rosy little follow-up...

I have not been watching The Next Iron Chef, I may catch up with this one online. There is another Food Network show starting, Two Dudes Catering. Did these two guys do an Iron Chef challenge? I think they did. Anyway, it follows a "renegade" new catering service in Hollywood. I'll probably try to watch it. Oh, and The Gourmet Next Door, by the winner of The Next Food Network Challenge, starts Oct. 28. I think she'll do a good job. I was looking at her show topics, and they seem interesting.

[laurie]

Here’s an interesting celebrity chef story -- from a slightly odd angle -- in this week’s Time Magazine.

[Darb]

Here’s an interesting celebrity chef story -- from a slightly odd angle -- in this week’s Time Magazine.

By coincidence, I read that while I was in the gym yesturday.

The article gets one very important thing right, and that's that for many hardcore foodies, it all boils down to comfort food. Anyone who's a serious and well-eaten 'foodie' has probably already scratched most of their culinary itches over the years, and for their final meal usually looks for something comforting ... usually something that brings them full circle back to their childhood, or to some other time in their lives when they felt especially comfortable, loved, and at peace.

I could easily wax poetic about appetizers of lox on toast points with creme fraiche and salmon roe, and an extra-rare dry-aged porterhouse of kobe beef served with a good sear, and with creamed spinach and heirloom tomatoes on the side with crusty artisan breads and good soft cheese, and a dessert of bourbon-pecan pie with some vanilla icecream and PX sherry, or perhaps some English stilton with walnuts prunes and a good sauterne, etc ad infinitum ... and to be sure I'd love to eat those sort of things whenever and wherever afforded the opportunity.

But for my last meal ? My LAST one ?

I'd rather be back at my late parent's table, eating something with deep family history and fond memories ... like a simple bowl of clam chowder (after a morning of 'treading for clams' at low tide with my Dad), or even Mom's foil-pouch brisket, flavored with lipton's dried onion soup mix, etc. Heck, I'd even like one of my mom's sandwiches of softened cream cheese mixed with grated cucumber, on wonderbread, which is what we always ate while driving across country. Something from home and childhood.

I can make versions of all those recipes that are superior to what my parents made me as a child ... but for my final meal, it'd want it to be THEIR version, made by them, and with them sitting beside me. I'd give almost anything for that.

We're all still the little kids inside we used to be - we just get older and more experienced with the passage of time.

[voralfred]

Here’s an interesting celebrity chef story -- from a slightly odd angle -- in this week’s Time Magazine.

(...) I could easily wax poetic about appetizers of lox on toast points with creme fraiche and salmon roe(...)

But for my last meal ? My LAST one ?

I'd rather be back at my late parent's table(...)

But then I realized what I truly want is an unimpressive bagel smeared with a bit of cream cheese and piled high with Nova Scotia salmon.

While I completely agree with the feelings expressed by both Brad and the author of the article in TIME, and most of the chefs interviewed in that article, there is one detail I found amusing: Joel Stein speaking of salmon while Brad used the word lox. I mean, who would ever use the phrase "bagel with cream cheese and salmon"? I only spent three years in New Jersey, and I would never use any word but lox, in this context.

[tollbaby]

Jewish people (I'm making a huge, unsafe assumption here, but the man's name is JOEL STEIN) tend to dumb down any yiddish terminology for the rest of the unwashed masses. I have several friends who will use the 'English' words for something that is commonly known by its Yiddish terminology when speaking to non-jews I'm just assuming that's what the author was doing. Dumbing it down to the lowest common denominator.

Another minor nitpick. In a Jewish deli, you wouldn't ask for a bagel with cream cheese either. It's 'schmeer' (sp?). That's the difference. You ask for lox or schmeer, and they know if you want salmon or not. (I feel like there should be an "I" somewhere in schmeer... because I *know* it isn't spelled properly)

[laurie]

Just to confirm, Joel Stein is most definitely Jewish. I've been reading him in Time for years -- he started there at around age 22 or so with a small humor column in which he often talked about how his Jewish upbringing contrasted with his friends' and coworkers' childhoods.

[tollbaby]

Well, I'm glad I wasn't stereotyping unfairly I'd never heard of him.

[laurie]

...there is one detail I found amusing: Joel Stein speaking of salmon while Brad used the word lox. I mean, who would ever use the phrase "bagel with cream cheese and salmon"? I only spent three years in New Jersey, and I would never use any word but lox, in this context.

Joel Stein might have used the word salmon rather than lox because he was talking about a specific type: Nova Scotia salmon.

Nobody would say Nova Scotia lox.

[tollbaby]

...there is one detail I found amusing: Joel Stein speaking of salmon while Brad used the word lox. I mean, who would ever use the phrase "bagel with cream cheese and salmon"? I only spent three years in New Jersey, and I would never use any word but lox, in this context.

Joel Stein might have used the word salmon rather than lox because he was talking about a specific type: Nova Scotia salmon.

Nobody would say Nova Scotia lox.

Of course not, proper lox is from the WEST coast

[tollbaby]

oh shush. It's one of the few things for which my country is world-renowned

[Darb]

Subj: The Next Iron Chef

Ok, from a judging standpoint, it could have been a coin flip at the finale ... Besh came across as the more elegant, consistent and technical chef, and Symon was the more interesting, erratic and entertaining chef. I liked Besh, because he seems to more well rounded, and his cuisine was more refined, but when it comes to who'd be more entertaining to watch on TV as an Iron Chef, it'd be Symon.

I'll be blunt - I like Besh, and by all counts he's a wonderful guy, and a philanthropist, very educated and gentlemanly, and a good family man, and I greatly respect that ... but TV isnt always about reality. It's also about entertaining the masses.

Yes, I freely admit that THAT runs contrary to all that I've posted to date, railing as I've repeatedly railed against the ascendancy of personality over culinary content on TV, but in this case, Symon is not just a TV personality ... he can COOK too.

Anyway, there you have it.

[Darb]

Mario Batali and Sara Moulton both leave Food Network:

http://edibletv.net/?p=369
http://www.slashfood.com/2005/12/02/sar ... d-network/

No more Molto Mario.

[Darb]

Giada's prego {http://tvfoodfan.blogspot.com/2007/11/g ... ggers.html}

[violetblue]

It seems shocking to think of Food Network without Mario, but eh, I can understand why he's not being renewed. I mean, how much Italian pretension can you take? As far as Sara, well, I never really was a fan.

[violetblue]

Anthony speaks!

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticl ... /5717.html

Here's a quote:

"His advice to vegetarians: “Try bacon. It’s the gateway protein.â€

[Darb]

There will be a brief pause as we indulge in a brief moment of gratuitous food porn, courtesy of the lovely giada de laurentis ...

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... please tell any small children to avert their eyes ...

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... Oh, my ...

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... we now return to our normal ongoing discussion, already in progress.

[laurie]

She'd make a great Lady Macbeth...

[voralfred]

She'd make a great Lady Macbeth...

In, in, blessed spot!

[Darb]

If I didn't think my wife would object, i'd be inclined to frame that and hang it in my kitchen.

[violetblue]

I found this through an unrelated search. Anthony (Bourdain, of course) visited Harvey Pekar in Cleveland and Harvey and his illustrator made up a series of comics for the visit. I guess if you don't know who Harvey Pekar is, or you haven't read American Splendor or seen the movie (SEE it, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0305206)you might not understand this. Seriously. See the movie.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... =130&prev=

By the way, Anthony's hot without the aid of... common vegetables. **sniffs disdainfully**