The Experimental Gourmand

Bocuse d’Or American Team Competition

The Experimental Gourmand — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:02:32 +0000

Today, I had the unique experience of attending the second day of the competition at the Culinary Institute of America for the American team which will head to Lyon, France in 2013 to take part in the global cooking contest known as the Bocuse d’Or, named after renowned French chef Paul Bocuse who is known [...]

Chicken with Tomato-Pancetta Sauce and Mashed Potatoes

The Experimental Gourmand — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:54:33 +0000

This dish brings back memories of my folks coming to visit me when I lived in Bologna, Italy. Far away from home, it was a real treat to be able to show off my language skills and the city to them. Of course, the other benefit was that we got to eat out at places [...]

Smorgasbrewery!

The Experimental Gourmand — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:06:23 +0000

Slogging through the slushy, grey remnants of Saturday’s snowstorm to Williamsburg, the Brooklyn one, not the Virginia one, I made my way over to the Brooklyn Brewery for Smorgasbrewery on Sunday. This weekly event that runs through March features several of the amazing food vendors who had made their summer home at Smorgasburg on the [...]

Spiced Butternut Squash Soup from Paula Wolfert

The Experimental Gourmand — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 20:47:47 +0000

I’ve been enchanted by Paula Wolfert’s book The Food of Morocco since it came out last year. I raved about all the great dishes that everyone made from it for the event hosted by the Culinary Historians of New York featuring Ms. Wolfert, but I hadn’t yet tried my hand at any of them. Food [...]

International Day of Italian Cuisines (IDIC) 2012 at the International Culinary Center

The Experimental Gourmand — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:36:52 +0000

Italian cuisine is world-renowned and well-loved, but, due to global travels, many of its dishes have morphed considerably since their origins. Ending up in far-flung places, regional specialties have been adapted to fit the ingredients that immigrants were able to find in their new home countries. Although the names might be the same, the food on [...]

Quinoa with Broccoli

The Experimental Gourmand — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:17:49 +0000

Are you doing a New Year’s de-tox diet? It seems like more than a few of the folks I follow on Twitter and some others I’ve spoken to besides have decided to undertake this cleansing ritual to jump start their bodies in 2012. I’m on the fence about this. While each year I do abstain [...]

International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Kick-off Party

The Experimental Gourmand — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:03:57 +0000

Last night at Santos Party House, the International Association of Culinary Professionals, or IACP, had its 2012 Conference kick-off party in the host city of New York. This is kind of a big deal in the culinary world, not least because this association is the leading one in the profession but also because the annual [...]

Curling up with Chicken Soup and Kathleen Flinn’s Book “The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry”

The Experimental Gourmand — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:34:21 +0000

The least-well-received “present” that I got during the holidays was a cold bug from one of my nephews. As much as I loved playing with the active little guy and holding his newborn brother, I really didn’t need an extra special gift from them to take home with me to New York. Fortunately, I could [...]

Kitchen Clearout

The Experimental Gourmand — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:01:25 +0000

With the new year, there’s the feeling of needing to clear out the clutter and have a fresh start. The same goes for getting the kitchen in order to begin everything on a good note. Of course, I’d like to say that I did that for myself, especially when I opened up the freezer today [...]

Good-bye 2011, Hello 2012!

The Experimental Gourmand — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:17:01 +0000

I don’t know about you, but for me 2011 just flew right by. I felt like I’d barely gotten through stuffing my gullet with all the wonderful berries, stone fruit, and gorgeous green vegetables of summer when it was time to figure out what to make for Thanksgiving and come up with recipes for using [...]