Kitchen Warfare

Harvard’s New Food Pyramid - Big Brains Say Exercise, Less Bad Food/More Good Food The Secret

chowhound — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:57:59 +0000

Well you know us, we make fun of everything and its hard not to resist poking fun at the obvious. But of course the sobering reality is that many of us struggle with our weight and having a higher awareness and interest in the culinary arts can make ‘watching your weight’ a lot more challenging. It’s one thing to like to eat, but its made even more difficult by the ability and the PASSION for creating the best possible food we can. If we’re trying to lose weight many (most perhaps) would argue we SHOULD be using Splenda for our sweetener and apple sauce and yogurt for our fats etc etc but personally I have found I just cannot live with this. I once had a plate of ‘healthy brownies’ made with faux fats, faux sugars and faux eggs and my new neighbor who had heard of but not yet sampled my food said ‘So you made this?’. I have rarely used a substitute since. Instead I’ve adopted what is for me the far more sensible course of portion control. Alton Brown says it best, ‘There are no bad foods, just bad food habits’. My personal bad food habit is eating too much of it so I’ve just recently become a strict calorie counter. Eat what you want, you just have to count it and stop before you go over. More on this later.

But back on topic (sorta) its important to know what’s really good for you and what isn’t. Then try to prepare dishes using as many of the good ingredients as possible. For example you can enjoy a huge serving of bleu cheese dressing (3oz = 450 calories) if you use it to cover a 6 inch head of lettuce (75 calories). By contrast some foods have absolutely NO redeeming qualities whatsoever like say sausage gravy or Alfredo sauce. Of course you can have any of these too, just in extreme moderation.

And now on to the new food pyramid called the Healthy Eating Pyramid. Its searchable, downloadable and free. It’s also part of the revamped Nutrition Source site that shares research and recipes from other smart people and chefs. Sometimes both.

The Healthy Eating Pyramid [via Boston.com]

ShareThis

Local Food News Roundup 2

chowhound — Sun, 04 May 2008 20:52:07 +0000

Some of the best recipes and food related stories come from the local news. While we don’t know exactly where YOU live, here are a few local stories from across the world that caught our eye last week.

From Indiana, Pennsylvania the recipes of the finalists in their Potluck recipe contest. Also other entries the judges enjoyed.
A few cornbread recipes from Knoxville
An article on Great British Puddings in the Daily Telegraph (UK). Also Waitrose, a supermarket chain starts carrying Ostrich eggs.
From Hilton Head Island/Bluffton, South Carolina Justin Paprocki tells us about his ‘first time’ in Diary of a Food judge

ShareThis

Your Own Personal Branding Iron (Also Works For Steaks)

chowhound — Sat, 03 May 2008 19:01:07 +0000

If you’ve often thought the food at your barbecue was good enough to stamp your name on our guess is it costs a lot less than you think. For a very reasonable $14.95 you can have your own personal aluminum branding iron complete with 55 changeable letters and 8 blank spaces on a two line track. So not only can you remind folks who grilled their food you can also use your new branding iron to burn in customized messages for special events like ‘Happy Birthday’ or for special people like ‘Stick This Steak’. Or if the whole thing goes to hell in a handbag just stamp your neighbors name on it.

Personal Branding Iron (via OhGizmo!)

ShareThis

Bobby Flay to Guy Fieri - Are You A Jeweler Or A Cook?

chowhound — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:52:46 +0000

Tim Cuprisin of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel provides us with a great interview of Food Network’s Bobby Flay. Cuprisin has a relaxed conversation with Flay and is able to cover a wide range of topics including-

Flay’s becoming a celebrity chef (back then cooking wasn’t cool)
The evolution and direction of the Food Network
The controversy he unknowingly created by standing on his cutting board in his Iron Chef battle against Morimoto.
On how nowadays ‘real men’ have become ‘ok’ with home cooking
Much respect for Julia Child
And not so much for Guy Fieri, whom Flay takes a shot at for wearing his bling while cooking (are you a jeweler or a cook?)

Here’s a link to Tim’s article, you can listen to the entire interview here.

ShareThis

It’s National Barbecue Month, Can We Hit You With A Poll?

chowhound — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:21:37 +0000

63% of you prefer Bobby Flay?

If you’ve read KW for any length of time you know we’re very cynical about . . . well most things really. So generally speaking when companies conduct their own consumer surveys (95% polled love Kitchen Warfare, 3% can’t read, 4% can’t count) we tend to take them with a grain of salt. But that doesn’t mean we don’t like to read and ponder.

So up for roasting today is the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association’s (HPBA) national consumer poll on backyard barbecuing. After all May is, according to the HPBA, National Barbecue Month which as they point out also extends to ‘all summer long’. I’m not exactly sure how you get a ‘National Month’ extended but if anyone is contact with the proper governing body please let us know.

One of the more interesting bits of data to pop out of this survey of backyard warriors is that IF they were given the chance 63% of those surveyed said they would rather learn to grill from a celebrity chef than their favorite athlete, supermodel, actor/actresses, presidential candidate or rock star.

Eh? Now don’t get me wrong I’d like to spend a few hours picking up tips from Bobby Flay and company but you really have to ask yourself how many times they had to underline ‘LEARN TO GRILL’ before people stop picking supermodel.

But as usual, I’ve already digressed. So here’s what else we can learn from the survey -

(more…)

ShareThis

Top 100 Best Chinese Restaurants In The USA

chowhound — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:39:37 +0000

Yep its time once again to pick the best Chinese restaurant in America. Actually since this is the 5th year and the contest starts in February and ends with an announcement the following January there doesn’t seem to be much time that we’re NOT picking the Top 100 Chinese Restaurants. But no matter everyone loves a contest, especially one that serves everyone’s self-interests. Restaurant owners get to remind us of who and where they are, we get to see what other people think of them and maybe just maybe just like Emeril everyone takes things up a notch. Bam(boo)!

Review, enter or vote for the 2008 winners

2007 Top 100 Chinese Restaurants In The USA

ShareThis

Local Food News Roundup

chowhound — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:35:25 +0000

In Storm Lake, Iowa, Pilot-Tribune Editor Dana Larsen compares fast food to ‘grocery food’ by eating nothing but for two weeks (each).
In the Rapid City Journal (South Dakota), Tanya Manus claims that beets are one secret to a moist and delicious chocolate cake and she backs it up with a easy recipe.
In Maryland the Smith Island Cake becomes the official state desert
Barbara Barnes of the Calgary Herald shares her secrets for stuffed (twice baked) potatoes.

ShareThis

It’s Back! ‘Next Food Network Star’ Returns June 1st

chowhound — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:36:13 +0000

It’s back for a 4th season and this time network heavyweight Bobby Flay is on the selection committee full time. Also on the line up this season are guest judges Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray, Giada De Laurentiis, Alton Brown, Cat Cora, Sandra Lee, Gina and Pat Neely, Masaharu Moriomto, Tyler Florence, Michael Symon and Season Two winner Guy Fieri.

Challenges this season include everything from a late night race through Manhattan to teaming up with the Girl Scouts to fix healthy meals.

Also Food Network will allow online voting in which fans can pick their own favorite although fan voting has no (official) impact on who the selection committee picks.

The winner will be revealed during final episode on July 27th and will receive the usual six-episode show which will debut the follow month(August 2008).

If you’re keeping score at home Food Network Star is 1-1-1 (1 win, 1 loss, 1 ‘tie’). Season 2 winner Guy Fieri is well on is way to becoming a legitimate food star (we saw that early), Season 1 winners the Hearty Boys were hot for awhile but don’t seem to be making new episodes and last year’s Season 3 winner Amy Finely seems to have been a total bust. Too bad too because the ‘Gourmet at Home’ idea seemed sensible to us.

In any case the 10 finalists for Season 4 are: Nipa Bhatt (Victoria, MN), Jennifer Cochrane (Woonsocket, RI), Lisa Garza (Dallas, TX), Adam Gertler (Philadelphia, PA), Cory Kahaney (New York, NY), Shane Lyons (Colorado Springs, CO), Aaron McCargo Jr. (Camden, NJ), Kelsey Nixon (North Ogden, UT), Kevin Roberts (San Diego, CA), and Jeffrey Vaden (White Plains, NY).

Press Release

ShareThis

An Interview With Iron Chef Japanese Morimoto

chowhound — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:41:48 +0000

Here’s an interview (of sorts) with one of our favorite TV Chefs, Masaharu Morimoto the 3rd and perhaps best known Iron Chef Japanese from the original Iron Chef (Japan). Morimoto speaks of experience as an Iron Chef and his cooking style in general.

Also in case you haven’t heard, the original Iron Chef will be returning to television on May 5th at 11pm courtesy of the Fine Living Network.

ShareThis

Slate: The Myth Of The 30-Minute Meal

chowhound — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:12:04 +0000

There is a great article written by Linda Shaprio on Slate critiquing Gordon Ramsay’s (him again!?) new book ‘Gordon Ramsay’s Fast Food’ in which Ramsay like so many celebrity chefs attempts to convince that the only difference between your cooking and theirs is a few tips and recipes ultimately worth about $25.

Shaprio writes-

Fantasy has always played a big part in beat-the-clock cookbooks; in fact, the category relies on it, as Ramsay’s book makes clear. Despite the shopping lists, the step-by-step directions, the time-saving tips, and the authors who insist that this is exactly how they cook at home, there’s little that reflects the real world in such books.

Well said.

The truth is that for the most part the entire business of ‘celebrity chef’s’ is like the traditional carrot on a stick with the carrot of being a ‘good cook’ kept just out of reach. If the book/TV show dangles it too close you’ll think you won’t need them, but if the complexity/ingredients cause the carrot to appear to be too far away you won’t believe that being a good chef is obtainable.

(more…)

ShareThis