Archive for category Famous Chefs
Why I Cook…
Posted by Justin Thorp in Famous Chefs, Meta on February 26th, 2010
Well known chef and author Michael Ruhlman recently wrote a post about why he cooks and what got him into cooking. It’s a pretty cool post.
He asked other food bloggers to write about why they cook. It got me thinking so I thought I’d participate in the conversation.
- I cook because I love to eat. There’s something so satisfying about making food and then getting to personally enjoy the fruit of your labor.
- I cook because there’s a satisfaction that I get from making something with my hands.
- I cook because it’s an escape for me. When I cook, my kitchen because my own little world that I escape into. After a busy work at week, I like nothing better than spending a day cooking.
- I cook because understanding a culture’s cuisine helps me to connect so much and better understand that culture.
- I cook because it’s an expression of myself. I think, whenever you make something with your hands and then give it to someone else, you’re showing the world a lot about who you are.
- I cook because I love serving my friends and family.
Why do you cook? Spell it out for us. Drop it in the comments or write a post in your own blog.
Seriously, Watch Jamie Oliver’s TED Talk About Food Education!
Posted by Justin Thorp in Famous Chefs, Trends on February 13th, 2010
Jamie Oliver has always been someone within the food space that I’ve tracked with. His attitudes around simple delicious dishes that use local fresh ingredients is definitely something that I agree with. Along with being an amazingly accomplished chef and author, he’s done great work advocating for healthy lunches in the schools throughout England.
Well this year the TED conference (Technology, Entertainment, and Design), a conference where some of the smartest people in the world come together to talk about world’s issues, honored Jamie with the TED Prize for 2010 for his work in fighting childhood obesity by teaching children about food.
He gave a really moving talk (embedded above). He illustrates through numbers and some very moving stories how diet related illness kill more people every year then anything else. He also comes with a pretty awesome action plan of, which I agree with, of how to combat it…
- Every super markets needs to have a food ambassador that’ll help their patrons be smart about food and how they prepare it.
- Big food brands need to put food education at the heart of their business.
- Fast food companies need to start thinking differently and working to get us off of our addiction to fatty, sugary, and overly processed foods.
- Better regulations around how food is labeled.
- Kids in schools need to be cooked local healthy food.
- Every child needs to be taught 10 recipes that they can use for the rest of their life.
- Their needs to be greater funding for getting healthy food into schools.
As I’ve talked about before on this blog, from a very young age, I was blessed with an amazing mother who helped and encouraged me to learn my way around a kitchen. Also, Both of my parents have been encouragements and examples for eating healthy but I know that others aren’t so lucky.
I a big believer in what Jamie’s advocating. We need to do something. While Washington DC is flailing trying to figure out how to fix health care, we can do so much to actually fix our health.
This is Jamie’s mission statement…
“I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”
Seriously, watch Jamie’s talk and let’s do something about what’s happening.
New Season of Anthony Bourdain’s TV Show “No Reservations” Premieres Tonight
Posted by Justin Thorp in Famous Chefs, Television on January 11th, 2010
I’m excited. I just found out that tonight at 10pm Eastern is the premiere of the new season of Anthony Bourdain’s tv show “No Reservations” on the Travel Channel.
Tonight, Tony’s travels pick up in Panama, which is a country that has always seemed like it’d be fun to visit.
Check out the Slashfood interview with Tony about the new season or watch the clip from tonight’s show.
Salon’s Interview with Wylie Dufresne on Flavor
Posted by Justin Thorp in Famous Chefs, Trends on January 5th, 2010
Through the television show Top Chef, I’ve become familiar with molecular gastronomist and chef Wylie Dufresne. For those of you who aren’t familiar, molecular gastronomy is all about utilizing chemistry and more generally science in the process of cooking.
I’ve heard stories and seen examples of some pretty crazy concoctions that Wylie has come up with that create some pretty interesting flavors.
Well, Salon has got a really interesting interview with Wylie about how he is inspired to come up with these flavor combinations.
Michael Ruhlman on Why You’re Not Too Stupid To Cook
Posted by Justin Thorp in Famous Chefs, Trends on January 5th, 2010
Chef Michael Ruhlman has got a really great post on his blog about how there’s an incorrect perception that we’re all too stupid to cook. Through the media, we’re told that if you’re going to cook something it should be from a bag or in a box because cooking something from scratch is just too hard and should be left to master chefs and the dudes on TV.
His thought is that if we were all shown some of the fundamentals then we’d all see how easy cooking really is. At the end of his post, he shares a roasted chicken recipe with like 3 steps. (Will try it this weekend.)
I’m not an idiot. I know people are busy. I don’t always feel like making dinner. And I know a lot of people who simply don’t like to cook. If I had to knit my own clothes I’d be really bummed. But the notion that cooking is hard and that it takes a long time and we’re just too stupid to cook is wrong. And I want people to recognize the truth from the bill of goods they’re being sold.
Top Chef’s Voltaggio Bros to Launch Online Video Series
Posted by Justin Thorp in Famous Chefs, Online Resources, Television on December 26th, 2009
If you’re like me, you watched with eagerly to see which of the Voltaggio brothers was going to win this last season of Top Chef. It was a real nail biter and great television.
Now that the Top Chef season is over, you’d assume that the Michael and Bryan Voltaggio would be working on a series for the Food Channel or working on a series of cookbooks. Yes, they’ve been making the TV media tour, with stops at Conan, but in terms of long-term plans they’re working on ways to take their message directly to the people.
In the new year, the Voltaggio brothers are going to be doing on online video series for their recently launched Web site, which I think it’s a fantastic idea. The brothers had a fun and competitive on-screen chemistry. I hope they’ll bring this to their Web video series.
Also… hopefully the Voltaggio brothers will use the Web to not just get content to their fans but to allow their fans to communicate with them.
Here’s the teaser for the Web series…
Cheeky Tastings: “Michael Mina”
Posted by Mark Drapeau in Famous Chefs, Restaurants on December 24th, 2009
If you live in Washington, DC you may be familiar with the restaurant Bourbon Steak in the Four Seasons in Georgetown. The chef is Michael Mina, whose star seems to be rising. I hadn’t heard of him until Bourbon Steak (of course, I’m not a professional restaurant reviewer…).
I recently had the opportunity to sample his resturant Stonehill Tavern in Dana Point, CA (south Orange County). It’s inside the St. Regis resort there, which is stunning in itself.
Stonehill feels a lot like Bourbon. It was probably designed by the same person. It’s modern, hip American with lots of dark wood and old-fashioned class. I went with a date. We had two glasses of champagne, for which there was really poor selection and frankly some outrageous pricing.
That out of the way, we had an amazing meal. Appetizers, dishes, and desert (pumpkin donuts!) were awesome. I had the sommelier bring me a glass of whatever red would go best with my pork chop, and it was perfect.
Michael Mina’s not cheap. But I think you get your money’s worth. And in this case, with a view of the ocean. If you’re in SoCal and want an elegant, expensive meal, try Stonehill Tavern.
Learning About The Ratios of Cooking from Michael Ruhlman’s Book and iPhone App
Posted by Justin Thorp in Books, Famous Chefs, Online Resources on December 20th, 2009
If you watch the TV show Iron Chef on the Food Network, you’ve probably seen chef and food writer Michael Ruhlman. Back in April of this year, he released a book entitled “Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking.”
In the book, he talks about how a lot of the great recipes that we have for things like bread, sauces, batters, custards, and others are all based off of some pretty simple ratios. For example, for bread dough, you use 5 parts flour to 3 parts water. For Mayo, you use 20 parts oil to 1 part liquid to 1 part egg yolk.
When you watch these food shows on TV, I’ve always wondered how chefs remember all these recipes. Well, then I realize that it’s not about memorizing recipes it’s about memorizing ratios. If you can memorize 3 parts meat to 1 part fat then you can make your own sausages.
I’m anxious to dive into more of the book and even try them out over the long holiday break. I picked up the book for my Amazon Kindle. I’ll let you all know how it goes.
One of the cool parts (Yes, I am a nerd) is that you can get all the ratios in an iPhone app for just a couple of bucks. It seems like it’s totally worth it.
Happy cooking!
Anthony Bourdain’s New Book “Medium Raw” is Coming In June 2010
Posted by Justin Thorp in Books, Famous Chefs on December 19th, 2009
If you’ve been reading this blog for very long, you know that I’m a fan of Chef and travel/food writer Anthony Bourdain. So… I’m pretty excited to hear that Anthony is putting finishing touches on a his new book “Medium Raw,” which is set to come out in June 2010. The book is set to a be a follow up to the much beloved book Kitchen Confidential.
Anthony Bourdain on Cooking the Thanksgiving Meal
Posted by Justin Thorp in Famous Chefs, Online Resources on November 29th, 2009
Just found this great video from Anthony Bourdain on cooking the Thanksgiving meal. He talks about why you should cook legs of the turkey differently then the breast. He also shows how to make homemade stuffing and gravy.
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