OK, Food Network. You’re being awfully sadistic these days. You know it’s been a pipe dream of mine to get on the Food Network, ever since the first season of The Next Food Network Star. But, you made it pretty clear that you didn’t want my kind—self taught home cooks. No, you wanted flamboyant food personalities for whom cooking was already their day job. Bam! Indeed.
Now you dangle another carrot in front of my nose—your new show Ultimate Recipe Showdown. You say this show is all about self-taught home cooks showing off their best recipes for fabulous prizes, of up to $50,000.
I could care less about the money. I just want to get on the show. And meet the Double Dare Guy. You know, Marc Summers? You hired him to do Unwrapped, and now, with Guy Fieri, he’s the co-host of the Ultimate Recipe Showdown.
According to your Web Site, you’re accepting recipe submissions for Season 2 of the show until March 31st. You say that I can enter as many recipes as you want.
Ah, but there’s the rub. I’m a good cook, but you know recipe creation is not my specialty. Ever since that strained yogurt-garlic sauce in the 6th grade that made my eyes water, I’ve tried to get better at creating recipes. And sure, I won First place at a college during a spring break recipe challenge with my Sunset Soup. And I was victorious in the Iron Chef Birthday Battle back in June of 2007. But I only have, maybe, a half a dozen original recipes. And maybe a quarter of them are Ultimate Recipe quality.
You’re not just getting my hopes up, are you, Food Network? Do I have enough original recipes to have a chance? Do I have enough time over the next month to do some serious experimenting? Are you going to break my heart yet again?
Showing posts with label Food Network. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food Network. Show all posts
Friday, February 29, 2008
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Spoiler Alert: The Next Iron Chef is...
Symon wins! Symon wins! Symon wins!
Just got done with an informal birthday party which ended with watching The Next Iron Chef.
I love the melodrama involved. For the winner, it wasn’t just an announcement—the winner’s picture was unveiled on the Wall of Iron Chefs.
I was a Symon fan since the episode where they had to cook outdoors on the grills. I loved his simple approach, his family-style plating, and, most importantly, his ability to defend his decisions on why he cooked things the way he did. A couple of the judges thought his squab was too well-done (they wanted it rare). But Symon said that cooking the squab medium was an intentional decision. It was a well thought out and articulate answer when the other contestants were saying “um, well…”
Also, he has a tattoo that says “Born To Cook” on his leg. I wish I could think of a cool tattoo idea…
I wasn’t sure he could beat chef Besh, though. Chef Besh’s technique was much more refined. Also, Chef Besh was a Marine. In my experience, you don’t bet agains the Marine.
It was clear, however, that Symon had the job locked up after the tasting. Awesome, awesome finish.
Update on crappy food selection in my neck of the woods. I decided to do some fancy yet simple cooking for this birthday party, and tried my hand at ceviche. The recipe I was working from called for Halibut. No way I was going to find Halibut more than 700 miles away from the seashore—not even frozen. Checked three stores.
Finally settled on some decent fresh tuna bought at (shudder) Sam’s Club. Other than adding a little too much hot sauce, the Ceviche was a great appetizer. I’ll definitely make it again—very simple, but clean, complex flavors.
Until next time: Summon Sea Cucumber!
(Anyone know the reference? Post a comment and I’ll send you a prize!)
Just got done with an informal birthday party which ended with watching The Next Iron Chef.
I love the melodrama involved. For the winner, it wasn’t just an announcement—the winner’s picture was unveiled on the Wall of Iron Chefs.
I was a Symon fan since the episode where they had to cook outdoors on the grills. I loved his simple approach, his family-style plating, and, most importantly, his ability to defend his decisions on why he cooked things the way he did. A couple of the judges thought his squab was too well-done (they wanted it rare). But Symon said that cooking the squab medium was an intentional decision. It was a well thought out and articulate answer when the other contestants were saying “um, well…”
Also, he has a tattoo that says “Born To Cook” on his leg. I wish I could think of a cool tattoo idea…
I wasn’t sure he could beat chef Besh, though. Chef Besh’s technique was much more refined. Also, Chef Besh was a Marine. In my experience, you don’t bet agains the Marine.
It was clear, however, that Symon had the job locked up after the tasting. Awesome, awesome finish.
Update on crappy food selection in my neck of the woods. I decided to do some fancy yet simple cooking for this birthday party, and tried my hand at ceviche. The recipe I was working from called for Halibut. No way I was going to find Halibut more than 700 miles away from the seashore—not even frozen. Checked three stores.
Finally settled on some decent fresh tuna bought at (shudder) Sam’s Club. Other than adding a little too much hot sauce, the Ceviche was a great appetizer. I’ll definitely make it again—very simple, but clean, complex flavors.
Until next time: Summon Sea Cucumber!
(Anyone know the reference? Post a comment and I’ll send you a prize!)
Thursday, October 25, 2007
How to use up 50 heads of garlic in 3 months
To those of you who have complained that there's a dearth of garlic on this blog (which being named "Garlic is Love," should really have more garlic), I offer this post:
We had an Iron Chef party in June for my friend's birthday. We were given three options on what the secret ingredient might be, and it turned out to be "Battle Garlic." (Woo-hoo!) I won, but only by one point (a very close battle indeed).
The Chairman, the birthday girl's husband, wanted to dramatically rip the cover off the theme ingredients to reveal them, just like they do on the show. Which he did, by buying about 50 heads of garlic.
As the two chefs cooked, it slowly dawned on the "Chairman" that he had bought way too much garlic (The boy doesn't cook much). Even with my dishes of individual roasted garlic, we went through fewer than a half a dozen of the heads.
Oops.
We wound up splitting the difference, and I went home with about 25 heads of baby garlic, mexican garlic, and elephant garlic (which is actually a leek).
Thus, why I scrambled to find new ways to use up the leftover garlic this past summer.
Here's what I came up with:
* Anytime I was sauteeing anything, I added one clove of minced garlic. (1 clove per recipe)
* I made lots of dips that use a lot of garlic, like tsati..tzaz...cucumber garlic dip...onion dip with garlic, herb dip with garlic, hummus, and so on. (1-2 cloves per recipe)
* Garlic bread (1-2 cloves per recipe)
* Garlic dill pickles. (4-5 cloves per jar)
* Garlic soup. (1 HEAD per recipe)
* Chocolate covered garlic--no, wait, no one lets me cook that anymore... (1-2 HEADS of garlic per recipe, theoretically)
And, the mother of all garlic dishes when you have a ton of garlic...
* Chicken and 40 cloves of garlic (4-5 HEADS per recipe!!)
Armed with this phalanx of garlic recipes, I got through 25 heads before Labor Day, and even found myself using so much garlic that I had to go out and get a bunch of fresh stuff in bulk at the farmer's market.
I'll post the recipes separately.
We had an Iron Chef party in June for my friend's birthday. We were given three options on what the secret ingredient might be, and it turned out to be "Battle Garlic." (Woo-hoo!) I won, but only by one point (a very close battle indeed).
The Chairman, the birthday girl's husband, wanted to dramatically rip the cover off the theme ingredients to reveal them, just like they do on the show. Which he did, by buying about 50 heads of garlic.
As the two chefs cooked, it slowly dawned on the "Chairman" that he had bought way too much garlic (The boy doesn't cook much). Even with my dishes of individual roasted garlic, we went through fewer than a half a dozen of the heads.
Oops.
We wound up splitting the difference, and I went home with about 25 heads of baby garlic, mexican garlic, and elephant garlic (which is actually a leek).
Thus, why I scrambled to find new ways to use up the leftover garlic this past summer.
Here's what I came up with:
* Anytime I was sauteeing anything, I added one clove of minced garlic. (1 clove per recipe)
* I made lots of dips that use a lot of garlic, like tsati..tzaz...cucumber garlic dip...onion dip with garlic, herb dip with garlic, hummus, and so on. (1-2 cloves per recipe)
* Garlic bread (1-2 cloves per recipe)
* Garlic dill pickles. (4-5 cloves per jar)
* Garlic soup. (1 HEAD per recipe)
* Chocolate covered garlic--no, wait, no one lets me cook that anymore... (1-2 HEADS of garlic per recipe, theoretically)
And, the mother of all garlic dishes when you have a ton of garlic...
* Chicken and 40 cloves of garlic (4-5 HEADS per recipe!!)
Armed with this phalanx of garlic recipes, I got through 25 heads before Labor Day, and even found myself using so much garlic that I had to go out and get a bunch of fresh stuff in bulk at the farmer's market.
I'll post the recipes separately.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Next Food Network Star versus Next Iron Chef
Finally, a competitive reality show that I can get behind.
I had been boycotting "The Next Food Network Star," because I felt that they constantly misrepresent that show. The commercials for the show suggest that YOU could be the next winner! Well, unless YOU just happen to be a professional chef...not so much.
Yes, I submitted a demo tape to them eons ago, and it's not that I'm bitter for not being picked. I'm bitter because they gave people like me false hope that average Joes and Janes who like to cook might just have a chance.
Now, the Next Iron Chef show has no such pretensions. It clearly states that its contestants are "The best, of the best, of the best, sir!" So far so good. And, the emcee of the show is Alton Brown. Even better.
So I gave it a chance. Loved it.
Each episode has two challenges--one that is not judged, but gives the winner some kind of advantage (usually picking first ingredients for the next challenge), and one that is judged , which determines who stays and who goes.
First off, the contestants have lots of personality, and their interactions during the cooking challenges are very real, and (fairly) uncensored. That is, swearing is bleeped, but you still know they are swearing. Even the sweat that drips off the contestants as they scramble to finish each challenge adds to the realism (and is kinda gross).
Second, the challenges are really cool and varied. The first challenge that they did was "simple" food prep. They had to cut up a whole bunch of meats and veggies--salmon, chicken, lamb, oysters, coconut, and radish.
The other really neat challenge was when they got to play with all the gadgets--like an anti-griddle, that freezes instead of heats, and liquid nitrogen.
The show is only in its second week, and it looks like one contestant gets booted off each week, so I guess it will be a 7-week miniseries.
The only thing I didn't like is that they are trying too hard to show that "the chairman" is the one masterminding everything. It's pretty clear to me that a phalanx of Food Network producers, possibly even Alton himself, were the ones who designed the challenges. But I can forgive the dramatic structure, because, hey, we're supposed to have the cheese factor, or it's not Iron Chef.
The other thing that kinda sucks is that the only two female competitors have already been voted off. It would have been nice to see more female contestants, or see them do well. But, for the second week at least, I can't really disagree with who they voted off or why. Bummer.
Either way, it's gotten my interest back up for Iron Chef, and I've definitely got my favorites who I'm rooting for.
I had been boycotting "The Next Food Network Star," because I felt that they constantly misrepresent that show. The commercials for the show suggest that YOU could be the next winner! Well, unless YOU just happen to be a professional chef...not so much.
Yes, I submitted a demo tape to them eons ago, and it's not that I'm bitter for not being picked. I'm bitter because they gave people like me false hope that average Joes and Janes who like to cook might just have a chance.
Now, the Next Iron Chef show has no such pretensions. It clearly states that its contestants are "The best, of the best, of the best, sir!" So far so good. And, the emcee of the show is Alton Brown. Even better.
So I gave it a chance. Loved it.
Each episode has two challenges--one that is not judged, but gives the winner some kind of advantage (usually picking first ingredients for the next challenge), and one that is judged , which determines who stays and who goes.
First off, the contestants have lots of personality, and their interactions during the cooking challenges are very real, and (fairly) uncensored. That is, swearing is bleeped, but you still know they are swearing. Even the sweat that drips off the contestants as they scramble to finish each challenge adds to the realism (and is kinda gross).
Second, the challenges are really cool and varied. The first challenge that they did was "simple" food prep. They had to cut up a whole bunch of meats and veggies--salmon, chicken, lamb, oysters, coconut, and radish.
The other really neat challenge was when they got to play with all the gadgets--like an anti-griddle, that freezes instead of heats, and liquid nitrogen.
The show is only in its second week, and it looks like one contestant gets booted off each week, so I guess it will be a 7-week miniseries.
The only thing I didn't like is that they are trying too hard to show that "the chairman" is the one masterminding everything. It's pretty clear to me that a phalanx of Food Network producers, possibly even Alton himself, were the ones who designed the challenges. But I can forgive the dramatic structure, because, hey, we're supposed to have the cheese factor, or it's not Iron Chef.
The other thing that kinda sucks is that the only two female competitors have already been voted off. It would have been nice to see more female contestants, or see them do well. But, for the second week at least, I can't really disagree with who they voted off or why. Bummer.
Either way, it's gotten my interest back up for Iron Chef, and I've definitely got my favorites who I'm rooting for.
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