Food Republic

Tennessee Whiskey Barbecue Sauce Recipe

Jess Kapadia — Thu, 24 May 2012 21:31:17 +0000

Barbecue sauce with a shot of Jack for courage

Let there be no question in your mind as to why this barbecue sauce recipe is incredibly popular in whiskey country — Tennessee in particular. The debate rages on. Which is more important: the meat you're chowing down on or the whiskey you're chasing it with? The answer: both. A few drops of liquid smoke, which we normally wouldn't endorse (give us real smoke or give us death), provides the whiskey sauce with a flavorful little kick in the pants.

Read the full recipe on Food Republic »

Mastering The Art Of The Grill Date

Jason Kessler — Thu, 24 May 2012 21:02:24 +0000

Date night just got a lot hotter

Clearly you've noticed that it's Grilling Month around these here parts. If you haven't, then open your eyes and fire up that grill. As the Resident Love Cowboy, I thought now was a good time to talk about the smokiest subset of cooking for your special someone: The Grill Date. Grilling is inherently sexual. There's a lot of time spent handling meat, applying rubs and making sure there's enough heat to get the job done. If all goes well, you'll wind up with the unmistakable sounds of ecstasy – I'm talking mmms, not oohs. The only major difference – depending on how Fifty Shades of Grey you're feeling – is the presence of grill marks.

A Grill Date can be the perfect way to shake things up now that the snow has melted and your untanned skin is being reintroduced to UV rays. It's the antidote to the stodgy winter pot roast date. Sure, sipping a bottle of red next to the fire is cozy and all, but you want to get down and dirty under the Tuscan sun. Did I just make a dated Diane Lane reference? Wow. Sorry. Moving on.

If you've got some room on your grates and you're not just cooking on your George Foreman Grill from college, aim for an all-grilled menu. Go all the way and throw some grilling into your cocktails to start things off. How about this grilled lemonade recipe from Marcus Wang of Kingsford Charcoal? I'll take six gallons, please.

For your first course, make a grilled salad. Check out this simple grilled radicchio salad for inspiration. If you're not crazy about charring your lechuga, hit up Pesto Superstar Jess Kapadia's grilled corn pesto macaroni salad. Grilled corn is such a summer staple that it should definitely be on your Grill Date menu, but keep this in mind: nobody wants to make out with chunks of niblets in their teeth. Stick with non-cob recipes for the best results or you'll have to go on a less-than-sexy floss run immediately after dinner.

For the main event, get your meat on but don't overdo it. Avoid anything that may look or seem heavy. Heavy and dates don't mix – a lesson I learned from an ill-fated Bucket of Goulash date a while back. A thick ribeye may sound awesome to you, but your date may feel differently. Try something lighter. I'd recommend fish, but I'm the world's worst fish griller so I can't speak much from experience. If you've got pescagrilling skills, go for it. I think a solid beer can chicken (here's a beer can chicken recipe) is always a good choice/conversation piece and you can't go wrong with skewers of meat. Make sure you grill up some veggies, too, and you've got yourself a rather impressive date menu that didn't require hours at the stove.

Be forewarned: there's a snag with the Grill Date that you don't encounter with your run-of-the-mill “let me cook for you” date. That's the location and output of the grill. Location isn't so much a problem as an opportunity. Instead of running back and forth from the grill outside, set up an area close to the grill for you and your date to enjoy some drinks while you cook. If you have a backyard, use it. If you're doing the makeshift apartment grilling thing, set up some chairs close to your balcony. You just need to eliminate the annoying disappearances while you check the chicken. The output of the grill is another story. Grills create smoke. It's a fact of life. The best you can do is position yourself out of the direction of the wind. Or find a girl with a smoke fetish.

It's almost summer. You're a man. Incorporating your grill into your dating life is the best choice you can make as the days get longer. So fire up the coals and get your very first Grill Date going. When it's over, pop in your DVD of My Dog Skip and let the magic happen. Crap! I Diane Laned again!

Read the previous installment of Heart Attack on Food Republic.

7 Crucial Stops On The American Whiskey Trail

Leslie Pariseau — Thu, 24 May 2012 20:01:06 +0000

Start in Nashville, end with a lot of brown liquid

The Music City is a lovely place to begin a trek along the great American Whiskey Trail. Before taking off from civilization, be sure to make a stop at a honky-tonk or two — Robert's is a good bet for High Life-laced bluegrass. It doubles as God's house on Sunday mornings, should you want to make some anticipatory penance prior to parading through the South.

For civilized company and a cool, dark respite, hit the Patterson House, an expertly run cocktail canteen from the team behind Chicago's Violet Hour. The shelves are filled with all the bourbons you're about to track down, and a few you've never heard of — a session of Old Fashioneds is just the thing you need to whip your liver into fighting shape. Click on the first photo to view as a gallery.

Read the full post on Food Republic »

Video: Michelle Bernstein Didn't Kill Her Career!

Richard Martin — Thu, 24 May 2012 19:31:10 +0000

The Miami chef and restaurateur is busier than ever

The Food Republic Interview Lounge during the Austin Food & Wine Festival featured some great chefs, and one of my favorite chats was with Michelle Bernstein. Back before LeBron James took his talents to South Beach, when Miami was still thought of merely as a tropical playground for the young and fabulous or a retirement haven for the old and brittle, Bernstein took a big leap of faith and opened her namesake Michy's on a desolate stretch of Biscayne Blvd. (i.e. NOT South Beach), cooking farm-t0-table and seasonal before these were things. She has since opened up a Latin tapas joint that rocks called Sra. Martinez (her husband is in fact a Señor Martinez; her roots are as an Argentinian Jew) and a café/bakery, Chrome on Parchment.

At our Interview Lounge, fresh off a win as pork princess at Miami's Cochon 555, Bernstein quickly toured us through her whirlwind life — as a new mom, a restaurateur and a corporate chef with big deals brewing with Delta and Lean Cuisine. In other words, she's come a long way since leaving a cushy gig at a luxury resort to gamble on Michy's, where her loyal customers originally came in, saw the quirky space and homespun menu and told her, "You killed your career!" Not quite.

This has been presented by our friends at the W Hotel Austin.

Beer Can Chicken Recipe

Jess Kapadia — Thu, 24 May 2012 19:16:26 +0000

Talk about an easy chicken recipe. Plus, beer.

Beer can chicken: bask in its glory. Only a true patriot could take something as simple as French-style roast chicken and turn it into the poster child for why keeping canned beer in the fridge is important. If you've never roasted a chicken before...no, no, we're not going to get mad. That won't roast the chicken.

Let us school you: pop open a can of beer (fancy or otherwise), chug half, plop the chicken butt-down on the remainder and let the oven do the rest. The beer infuses the whole chicken, the aroma infuses the whole kitchen, and you don't have to flip, chop, reduce, sous-vide or risk burning a single thing. This is in fact the easiest chicken recipe we know of. Spend your precious effort on some killer sides, instead.

Or you can continue on the zero-effort trail with our easiest mashed potato recipe, ever. It's also significant that a can of beer fits perfectly in a chicken's, uh...cavity. Chalk that up to evolution.

Read the full recipe on Food Republic »

Grilling God: Linton Hopkins

Richard Martin — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:46:18 +0000

Atlanta's Southern charmer likes thick cuts

May is Grilling Month at Food Republic, where we are offering pro tips from chefs and other well-known grilling gods.

Linton Hopkins just won a James Beard Award for best chef, Southeast, but I'd nominate him for a Pulitzer based on his descriptions of food. His Atlanta restaurants Eugene and Holeman & Finch are temples to fresh ingredients and simple yet sophisticated presentations; he seems to save the hyperbole for when he's rhapsodizing about something like grilled meats.

"The beautiful part of grilling is the char," he tells me over a breakfast pizza at Pulino's during a recent swing through New York. "The burnt-y smoky element of fire and metal and sizzling protein and fat. You gotta have that! But you’ve gotta have that well-rested pink middle that goes soft and sexy and voluptuous contrasting that — that’s why we like grilling."

We pumped this Southern charmer for practical backyard advice, and learned quite a few tricks along the way. Plus, he uses gas! A Beard winner for the people!

More FR Grilling Gods: Michael Chiarello, Bobby Flay, Sammy Hagar, Marc Vetri, Richard Blais

So Linton, what are some of the bbq basics we should start with?
Gas vs. charcoal is a good one.

Well obviously charcoal if that’s an option, right?
Yeah, well, gas is convenient though. I love it. It’s so fast. It’s searing, but what’s so good about a gas-closed oventop is you can really zone out your space and mark and roast. I’ll roast a whole chicken on a grill and have the back burners really high and upfront low so it doesn’t burn the underside. You create a convection oven basically on that grill. Then when the chicken’s close I’ll throw my vegetables on the back and char 'em up. Zoning the grill is the number one rule of any grill cooking. If you don’t zone low to high you’re not gonna create the carmelized heat.

What other basic tips can you share?
You want to avoid flame-ups; they destroy the flavor of food. It’s about minimal fat on the marination. Once you get the flare-up you are adding that acrid burn.

So keep water nearby?
I keep a spray bottle just to shoot it down. But I also don’t put a lot of fat on my meats when I grill them. It’s a very thin coating.

At the butcher or market, what are you looking for?
Bone-on chicken, and thick cuts. I think that’s critical. I don’t like grilling very thin pieces. You lose the ability to hit certain temperatures like the oyster on the inside of the meat. The beautiful part of grilling is the char, the burnt-y smokey element of fire and metal and sizzling protein and fat. You gotta have that! But you’ve gotta have that well-rested pink middle that goes soft and sexy and voluptuous contrasting that—that’s why we like grilling.

What cuts of beef do you like to grill?
New York strips are great for grilling because it’s just got an outside fat that doesn’t flare up as much as ribeye — and I love ribeyes. And then you can move it to the other zone and then you can start grilling your vegetables.

What about getting that char and knowing when to turn?
Don’t touch it! It should release itself. A clean grill is important. Instead of oiling the meat I’ll oil the metal. I’ll take a paper towel with peanut oil and rub it across, and then I’ll let that flame up from that dripping and then the meat goes right on there, almost like seasoning a cast iron skillet. I won’t even put any oil on the meat. If you let it sit without moving it won’t tear. Even with fish, which can be a difficult thing.

You'd use the peanut oil even for fish?
Not the aromatic peanut oil but the Southern non-flavonoid peanut oil. Also, pre-heating the grill is key to being able to get a good release. Just like cast iron skillet cooking. It’s a great nonstick surface but you gotta pre-heat it.

What about side dishes?
To me grilling sides are things like stewed tomatoes contrasting caramelization, really cooked down, rich in umami. Or a big kettle of stewed mushrooms with onions. Roasting is great for grilling sides. One of the first things I do when I get home now is roast Vidalia onions in a clay baker with chicken stock and little bits of butter and salt and pepper covered with foil. I can throw that in the oven and forget about it for two hours and you get these beautiful golden sweet orbs of roasted onions.

How about directly on the grill?
If I’m grilling a steak I’m invariably just cutting tomatoes in half and charring them right next to the steak. 'Cause they just soften and become pulpy and that becomes your tomato sauce with the steak.

Any parting thoughts?
A lot of grilling is about timing, so you come out at the exact same time with everything. So if it’s meat, you’ve gotta plan for it to rest.

How To Mix Cocktails In The Great Outdoors

Brian Quinn — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:31:12 +0000

Mastering the art of cocktails, al fresco

With the start of a busy grilling season upon us, the key to good drinking is often finding something that is easy and refreshing. For many, the idea of weaving cocktails into that equation, especially with large groups, is a daunting prospect that often leads to simply going out and purchasing a sixer of beer instead. But fear not! Here are a few simple tips to making drinks in the great outdoors.

1. Stick to a few simple, but quality, ingredients. Create a menu based around only a few spirits, like gin and bourbon. Use only one fresh juice, like lemon. Make 1:1 simple syrup and base several drinks around it.

2. Be smart with your ice. Always pick up more ice than you need and keep it in a clean bucket on the table for easy access. Also, keep a clean bucket of water neary for a quick rinsing of shaking tins, strainers and bar gear.

3. Pre-batch drinks for easy pouring. You can combine 2 parts gin, 1 part lemon and a little less than 1 part simple syrup into a pitcher to make a basic sour batch, then add things like mint and a dash of St. Germain prior to shaking with ice. Each drink can be served in under 20 seconds. So there's more time for hanging out.

4. Glassware vs. plastic. When it comes to a party, anything goes. But keep in mind that while glassware provides for a better experience, it also means potential breakage and a lot more clean-up. Sometimes, using plastic cups is the only way to go for a crowded barbecue. In that case make a shaken cocktail on the rocks, to help keep it cold. Consider short black straws if the glassware or cups are more tall than wide.

5. Don't get stuck. If you're the bartender and it's your party, don't let the thirsty masses keep you behind the bar the whole time. Another good reason to batch drinks in pitchers in advance.

One of my favorite tequila drinks to make for a summer barbecue is the Tequila Honeysuckle. Traditionally, the Honeysuckle is made with rum (along with fresh lime juice and honey). But for my taste, it's the perfect choice for any blanco (or "silver") tequila. I find Sauza, Espolon and Herradura the best bang for the buck, but for a smaller crowd, I might swing for a more premium Patron Silver. Either way, this drink is a sure bet and will have any crowd raving as they sip away.

Read the full recipe on Food Republic »

Grilling God: Michael Lomonaco

Jess Kapadia — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:01:05 +0000

Porter House chef knows how to grill that steak

May is Grilling Month at Food Republic, where we are offering pro tips from chefs and other well-known grilling gods.

You don't have to be the executive chef and managing partner of a steakhouse named for an exceptionally large cut of beef to grill like Michael Lomonaco. But it couldn't hurt, right?

Thankfully, most home grillers don't face the constraints of cooking over 900-degree charcoal in a busy New York City kitchen — or on camera for the taping of a Food Network show. But Lomonaco, well, he's used to it. Porter House is an ode to all things prime, perfectly grilled and meaty. Who would have thought the Time Warner Center was packing so much heat?

What is the biggest mistake the home griller can make?
In general terms, preheating is really necessary. It's exactly what grilling is all about — heat. Indirect, direct, whatever method, you need a properly preheated grill. I'd say the most important thing is building the fire in enough time to let the charoals go to a white stage, when they're hottest, or even preheating a gas grill and making sure that the cook surface has been heating. People just want to get grilling, but you have to be patient and prepare.

Do you prefer working with gas or charcoal?
Charcoal. When I say charcoal, I mean hardwood charcoal, not briquettes. I don't have anything against briquettes, I just prefer real charcoal. You get smoke that has a wood-like flavor, and it burns really hot. I probably have 800-900 degrees coming off at Porter House. At home, you can get up to 500-600 degrees, the temperature you need to really get a good crusty finish on a steak or ribs or chicken. You could do a gas grill for everyday convenience and charcoal for the others, but a gas grill needs cleaning in and of itself. Keep the gas jets clean and free of previous remnants so they burn hotter. Cleaning it frequently will make it more efficient.

What's your favorite cut of meat to grill, and how should our readers prepare it?
Okay, let's talk steaks and beef. My favorite meat to grill is beef and a ribeye is a great steak to cook on the grill — a real bone-in cowboy ribeye because it's a thick cut, 1 1/2-inches. My second favorite is exacty the opposite, a skirt steak. When I say the opposite, I mean "not on the bone." It's a very thin cut of meat, but it's really excellent over some wood chips; it's beautiful.

What do you drink with that?
Cold beers, a good summer beer or ale from Brooklyn Brewery makes me very happy. Even in the summer I can drink red wine with a steak, although it can be a little oppressive if it's not at cellar temperature. About 55 degrees is a great temperature to enjoy red wine with steak. If it's too warm, it becomes...not a great pairing. I really lean more towards local brews.

How do you know when a burger is done?
Cooking to your own preferences is a hard thing to describe to other people. I would say this about burgers (besides that there's nothing better than a burger cooked over an outdoor fire): I never use frozen meat. I would really steer you away from frozen beef patties, and send you to the market for freshly ground beef. Get the higher fat content rather than leaner. That is going to give you the tastiest burger.

Over a hot fire, a good ground beef made into a patty will send off lots of flareback. You might get a little fire from the fat dripping into the fire, so I always recommend that people keep a spray bottle of water around to put out the flares.

What is the single most important piece of grilling advice you could give?
Keep your barbecue grill away from the house. Every year people have problems with having their grill too close to a building, to their home, garage, a shed — it should be built away from a building, that's important. Honestly, I recommend people keep a fire extinguisher nearby. Once you have that, it's just a party.

More Grilling Gods on Food Republic:

Chris Cosentino And A New Crop of Top Chef Masters Head To Vegas

Food Republic — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:46:08 +0000

Awesome chefs are ready for battle this summer

If you read our interview with feisty Chris Cosentino and thought, I’d love to see him battle it out with another chef (say Kerry Heffernan) then you’re in luck. This summer Top Chef Masters is back for its fourth season and Cosentino and Heffernan are just two of the 12 competition-hungry chefs who will be battling it out for this season’s title (and for the $100,000 prize for their charity). Did we mention it’s taking place in Vegas?

Fitting with the location, the stakes are high. Each quickfire champion will win $5,000 and elimination challenges winners will be awarded $10,000. James Oseland and Ruth Reichl will return to judge the competition along with newcomers Francis Lam and Krista Simmons. As always, expect a wide-range of celebrity guests (this time including Sugar Ray Leonard and the Indigo Girls).

See the whole list of competitors and their charities below:

Chris Cosentino – Chef/Partner Incanto Restaurant, San Francisco; Competing for Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Research
Clark Frasier – Owner of Arrows; Competing for Outright Lewiston/Auburn
Mark Gaier - Owner of Arrows; Competing for Equality Maine Foundation
Lorena Garcia - Owner of Lorena Garcia Cocina Restaurant; Competing for Alliance for a Healthier Generation, Inc
Debbie Gold – Executive Chef of Kansas City’s The American Restaurant; Competing for Children’s TLC
Kerry Heffernan – NYC Chef; Competing for City Harvest
Thierry Rautureau – Chef/owner: Rover’s and Luc; Competing for Food Lifeline
Missy Robbins – Executive Chef: A Voce Madison & A Voce Columbus; Competing for Grow to Learn NYC
Art Smith - Executive Chef and co-owner: LYFE Kitchen and Southern Art Restaurants; Competing for Common Threads
Sue Torres - Chef/Owner: Sueños; Competing for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Takashi Yagihashi – Owner: Takashi Restaurant and Slurping Turtle; Competing for the American Red Cross, benefitting the Japanese Tsunami Disaster Relief
Patricia Yeo – Om Restaurant & Lounge/Moksa Pan Asian Izakaya; Competing for Heifer Project International

Catch the season premier on Bravo Wednesday, July 25 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

What We're Reading: Thursday, May 24

Food Republic — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:31:37 +0000

A survey of food and drink stories from the Web

Congressman Says Pizza Is Not A Vegetable, Introduces SLICE Act - LA Times
Tokyo Stores Serve A Feast Of Plastic Food - NY Times
Three Ways To Fried Onion Bliss - Gourmet Live
The Law & Order Food Tumblr - LA Weekly
The Birth Of Non-Alcoholic Ketchup - Smithsonian
Adrian Grenier Launches New Beer Startup - Ecorazzi
Twice the Vice Spirited Chocolates - Gear Patrol

Got a great link that's piqued your interest today? Either tip us off or tell the world in the comments.

Poll: What Are You Grilling This Weekend?

Food Republic — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:01:05 +0000

Pork, seafood, chicken, veggie burgers?

Read the full post on Food Republic »

Word of the Day: Deglaze

Food Republic — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:31:08 +0000

Building up your kitchen vocab arsenal

Pan juices help those who help themselves. If you know how to deglaze, the perfect sauce for whatever you cooked is right around the corner.

Deglazing is the process of pouring liquid (usually wine or stock) into a hot pan with caramelized bits of food left over in the bottom after meat or poultry has been sautéed. The resulting mixture can be used as is for a delicious sauce that goes perfectly with the meat you just cooked, or thickened with butter and flour and turned into gravy. Plus, quite frankly, deglazing makes the pan way easier to wash.

Use today’s Word of the Day: Bangers and Mash With Onion Gravy

Grilling God: Richard Blais

Matt Rodbard — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:01:04 +0000

Quick advice from Top Chef's top griller

May is Grilling Month at Food Republic, where we are offering pro tips from chefs and other well-known grilling gods.

It's hard to know what Richard Blais is more famous for — his multiple appearances on Top Chef (Season 4, Masters, All Stars) or his burgers. Dude wins Top Chef seasons, that is clear. He’s a gamer and a winner. At Atlanta’s Flip Burger Boutique, dude wins as well — serving expertly cooked and seasoned patties topped with things like foie gras and pimento cheese. We asked him for his grilling secret and to defend cooking vegetables on the grill.

More FR Grilling Gods: Michael Chiarello, Bobby Flay, Sammy Hagar, Marc Vetri

What is your favorite cut of meat to grill?
Any meat that has been braised or sous-vide first. The leg of lamb comes to mind. Besides that, hanger steak is great.

How do you know the burger is done?
Sous-vide it first! You'll know exactly what the temp is. Besides that, we have all seen the typical touch and feel method. Burgers are actually the toughest!

Can you defend vegetables on the grill?
I'm sorry, I don't understand the question, but I'd guard them tight and possibly throw in a half court trap. Especially for eggplant, as it has a deceptively sweet handle.

OK, let me rephrase. How do you make vegetables not boring?
Marinate them, and don't be afraid to let them char. Almost-burnt vegetables are such a trend currently.

What do you like to drink with your grilled meat?
Carbonated juices. I'm a sucker for passion fruit soda paired with pork. Fresh ginger ale. A carbonated Negroni or ginger beer maybe?

What’s the most epic barbecue you have ever thrown, or been to?
Once my dad caught his hair on fire grilling London Broil on the ol' Weber. The fire department showed up. All the hair went up.

What is the worst food item you have seen thrown on the grill?
Once on Top Chef we had a challenge where we couldn't use utensils, and I was running around and saw someone had a squab on the grill. But it was still in its plastic wrap! I still don't know who did it. That's some crazy time stuff there.

Most useful piece of grilling gear you have purchased or used?
Wood.

Do you mess with veggie burgers?
Yes, I like a good falafel formed into patties. And the restaurant Houston’s has the best veggie burger known, IMHO.

Test Kitchen: Leftover Meat Porn

Jess Kapadia — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:31:07 +0000

Food Republic never lets grilled meat go to waste

Today's installment of What To Eat For Lunch is my ode to Grilling Month. I realized this morning that Grilling Month isn't going to last forever, like childhood and Mad Men. In fact, there's only one week left.

Thankfully, Grilling Month is first and foremost about getting you outside with a platter of raw cow, reel of sausages, pyramid of veggie skewers, or any other descriptive quantity of of something one might grill. Tank of fish?

Anyway, we've enlisted the advice of the Grilling Gods (with more to come). We've named the 20 most important gadgets of this grilling season. And, most importantly, we've practiced what we've preached. During our last test kitchen, we grilled and photographed no less than 20 pounds of meat. Not all the shots made it into the recipes, but we'd be remiss to let any portion of a rack of ribs go to waste. Here are the leftovers.

Speaking of which, does anyone know the technical name for the nubby little mini-slab of ribs next to the rack in the first photo? We tossed some suggestions around, but most of them were inappropriate.

Photos by Mark Shaw

Read the full post on Food Republic »

30 Beers To Drink Over Memorial Day Weekend

Joshua M. Bernstein — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:01:06 +0000

The official start of all-day-drinking beer season

Read the full post on Food Republic »

On Carving Up Country Ham

Norman Van Aken — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:02:18 +0000

A preserved pork tradition with Southern roots

When it comes to Florida cuisine, the conversation starts with Norman Van Aken. The chef and author was among the first to realize the tropical food goldmine of the region, and his restaurants and cookbooks have had a huge influence. Now the chef/owner of Norman's at the Ritz-Carlton, Grande Lakes, Orlando and Director of Restaurants at Miami Culinary Institute, Van Aken is hard at work on his next book, My Key West Kitchen, due out in fall 2012. Each week, he contributes to Food Republic with his "Word On Food." He's on Twitter: @normanvanaken.

Last week I was in Atlanta for the second annual Atlanta Food & Wine Festival. The folks who started this up, Elizabeth Feichter and Dominique Love, have hit the sweet spot on all manners of Southern cooking and drinking with this fest. This year, my son Justin and I were busier than even the inaugural last year with a dinner at the “Optimist’s Club,” a “nose-to-tail” demo on whole fish grilling at The Loews Hotel and finally, a farewell party Sunday evening called “A Chorus of Greens,” hosted by Atlanta star chef Anne Quatrano.

We did take a few classes at the festival, though not nearly as many as we wanted. One was on the long tradition of making country hams. The person more American chefs look up to on that subject than any other is a gentleman from Madisonville, Tennessee named Allan Benton. The list of his fans would fill this page. He said at one point, “I’ve nearly starved to death doing this job…until now.” (I’m glad he had the country steel to hang on!) Mr. Benton was joined on stage with about six chefs who each had a ham they were carving from when we entered that porcine-perfumed hotel conference room. Chef Art Smith had just handed me a ham-filled biscuit not an hour before this class, but it didn’t staunch my lust for these works of edible art.

When I was about 19 years old, I started hitchhiking around America with a couple of buddies. One of the routes I came to know well was the one between my hometown in Northern Illinois and my soon-to-be-adopted hometown of Key West. One of my pals was from Cincinnati, so we routinely rested up and re-fueled there (compliments of his mother’s refrigerator and his step-daddy’s beer cooler in the basement).

A number of times we got off the superhighways and hit the little two-lane “blue highways.” I remember traveling through western Kentucky very near the Southern Illinois border one beautiful spring day and passing through the towns of Metropolis, (where they had a big painting of Superman on the water tower) and another called Monkey’s Eyebrow (for reasons I still don’t know). It was in the town of Cadiz that I began, way back then, to understand the meaning of country hams.

Country hams may appear to be inedible. They are really very hard, with some mold often marking the exterior. The folks who make them start with about a 50-pound section of pork meat. It is, somewhat troublingly, called a “green ham” at this point. Burying or rubbing them thoroughly in a salt, sugar and or pepper mixture for up to 3 weeks is next. They are not injected, which is a cheap quick-fix suitable only for commercial grade hams. Great hams take time, almost a full year in fact. There were hams at the Atlanta Festival from 11 Southern states. The only one missing was Florida. Ham Master/Chef Linton Hopkins looked me in the eye as I was thanking Mr. Benton and said, “Hope to see Florida in here next year.” The challenge lies before me.

More Word On Food at Food Republic:

Tested: Schmidt Bros. 15-Piece Downtown Block

Debbie Lee — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:01:05 +0000

Is this a case of style over substance?

Read the full post on Food Republic »

South Carolina Barbecue Sauce Recipe

Jess Kapadia — Wed, 23 May 2012 21:46:07 +0000

Hit the Carolinas for mustard-based sauces

Any fan of mustard should automatically gravitate towards a homemade South Carolina-style barbecue sauce recipe. Unlike its ketchup, molasses and even coffee-spiked brethren from around the country, Carolina sauce is mustard and vinegar-based. Because guess who settled there in the 18th century? Germans! Inventers of kraut and hardcore mustard enthusiasts, they would know about balancing fat and acid. This is great because we all know that the best barbecue, no matter which animal it came from, is rich, heavy, fatty and begging for a sharp bite.

Straight-up yellow mustard is traditionally used in South Carolina-style barbecue sauce, but if honey, Dijon or even beer mustard is more your thing, customize your sauce to your personal tastes.

More barbecue sauces from Food Republic:

Read the full recipe on Food Republic »

Grilled Veggie “Sausage” With Peppers and Onions Recipe

Ayinde Howell — Wed, 23 May 2012 21:31:04 +0000

The perfect grilling recipe for the hungry vegan

It was summer of 2000. I was in LA tagging along on my at-the-time girlfriend’s business trip, and we decided to stay the weekend. I was in a little beach town near Marymount University on a Sunday, playing bocce ball on the beach, which turned into an impromptu BBQ.

Luckily, the host was kind enough to allow me to use the grill first, so my vegan protein wouldn't get all meaty. I often get inspired by the haste of a last-minute cooking experience. I hit up a local Ralph's and grabbed a package of Field Roast links, an Italian pepper (the long kind) a red onion and pack of buns. What followed was pure simple genius — or at least I like to think so! This grill go-to is filling, simple, and delicious. Low maintenance and with a short ingredient list, it's perfect for packing in the cooler and heading to the local beach or park.

Read the full recipe on Food Republic »

Ticket Giveaway: Anthony Bourdain at BAM

Food Republic — Wed, 23 May 2012 20:16:12 +0000

Last day to win tickets to Bourdain in Brooklyn!

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Illustrated Guide To Grilling: China

David Navas and Judy Cantor-Navas — Wed, 23 May 2012 20:01:04 +0000

Char siu fan? Learn to grill Chinese-style.

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NYC: Wellness In The Schools Annual Benefit

Jessica Montoya Coggins — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:31:05 +0000

A charity benefit with epic food and drink

Last night we attended the annual Wellness In The Schools Benefit at the Tribeca Rooftop in New York City. The organization helps coordinate nutritional education and environmental programming in schools across New York City. A great cause, indeed. Guests were invited to mingle with chefs like Bill Telepan (Telepan), Michael Anthony (Gramercy Tavern) and Jonathan Waxman (Barbuto). The Champagne flowed (and flowed and flowed), but we still managed to sneak some photos of several dishes.

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How To Get The Most Out Of Daytime Drinking

Simon Ford — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:01:24 +0000

Warm up the blender and cut some limes

When it comes to cocktails, Simon Ford is the guy to know. After earning a Wine and Spirits Education Certificate in the UK, he went on to work for Seagrams and now holds the heady title of Global Spirits & Cocktail Brand Expert for Pernod Ricard USA. For real, it's on his business card. In Simon’s weekly column, Drink Ford Tough, he tells you everything you ever needed to know about the art of the cocktail. And how to drink better.

There are many reasons to love the summer, but one of my favorites is daytime drinking. Beaches, picnics, boat trips, tennis at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, outdoor concerts and music festivals, Fourth of July, Shakespeare in the Park. The list goes on.

I have a philosophy for the benefits of drinking all afternoon. You start at 2 p.m. and be finished by 10 p.m. without having a hangover the next day. You can wake up and make brunch! I also find it more sociable than nighttime drinking, since it involves some sort of activity that isn't sitting in a dark bar.

A great daytime drink is refreshing, easy-to-make and always ice cold. It’s also a good idea for the drink to be semi-weak, since you’ll be drinking all afternoon in the sunshine. Here are a few of my favorite daytime drinking traditions.

Bring out the blender!

One reason why I love drinking during the day is it gives me an excuse to break out the blender. There isn't much you can’t blend in a Vitamix, my choice in gear. But any decent blender will do.

The piña colada is the ultimate summer blended drink. Invented in the Caribe Hilton in Puerto Rico, it's a simple mix of three ingredients thrown in a blender with ice and served with as many cheesy garnishes as you can fit in the glass.

Piña Colada Recipe

Ingredients
1 part Mount Gay Golden Rum
1 part Crème of Coconut (Coco Lopez)
Pineapple juice (or throw some fresh pineapple into your blender instead if you can — it will taste a lot better)
Crushed Ice

Directions
Hit blend and pour into a hurricane glass. Garnish with a pineapple spear, cocktail cherry, cocktail umbrella, some sort of plastic monkeys and a flag.

Do as the English do

During the four days of summer that we get in the UK, we all hit the pub gardens and order a jug of Pimm’s. Drinking so called fruit cups has been a tradition for centuries, and it’s a perfect refreshing cocktail for daytime drinking. Plus, it’s really easy to make. The English like to drink Pimm’s at such occasions as Wimbledon and The Henley Royal Regatta. It makes its all seem rather proper, until you have had three or four.

Classic Pimm’s Cup Recipe

Ingredients
6 ounces Pimm’s #1
12 ounces ginger ale
Slices of cucumber, strawberries and fresh mint.
Slices of lemons, oranges and apples. Don’t worry of you don’t have all of the fruit. The idea is like sangria, get as much in there and the drink will take on the flavor of the fruit.

Directions
Add ice to chill and pour into tall glasses to sip in the garden

The Pimm's cup is by far the most popular way to enjoy this drink, but if you pick up an old cocktail book you'll most likely find plenty of 'Cup' recipes such as The Cider Cup.

Cider Cup Recipe

Ingredients
1 part Fine Calvados
1 part Martell VSOP
1 part Orange Curacao
1 part fresh lemon juice
Dash of simple syrup
4 parts apple cider
2 parts chilled seltzer water

Directions
Shake everything except the cider and seltzer. Strain into a hi-ball and top with cider and seltzer

Get in on Brazil’s national drink

The Brazilians drink so much cachaça that their national spirit is the third biggest selling spirit on the planet (after vodka and soju). The most common way Brazilians drink cachaça is in their trademark cocktail — the caipirinha — which probably makes it the biggest selling cocktail in the world. Sorry, Cosmopolitan.

It is another really simple drink to make since all you need is sugar, limes, a bottle of cachaça, a muddler and some crushed ice. Brazil always congers up images of endless summer carnivals. Love Brazil.

Caipirinha Recipe

Cut a whole lime into wedges and place into a rocks glass. Add two spoons of fine sugar and muddle with lime wedges until it has dissolved into the lime juice. Fill glass with crushed ice and stir the contents of glass into the crushed ice.

Fill glass with a healthy measure of Leblon cachaça. You can add other fruits into the mix with your caipirinha such as berries or slices of mango and muddle them in with the limes and sugar. I personally like adding a few sliced kumquats or a sliced passion fruit.

Gin and Tonics

Lastly, it would be very un-English of me to leave out the classic summer drink — the gin and tonic. All you need is gin, tonic and a slice of lemon or lime for the perfect hot weather drink. I like Plymouth or Beefeater gin mixed with either Q Tonic or Fever Tree Tonic. Enjoy.

You can follow Simon Ford on Twitter: @SimonJFord

Aether's Outdoor Chair and Table Set

Laura Neilson — Wed, 23 May 2012 18:31:10 +0000

Grilling on the go? Beach picnicking? Take a seat!

When we featured Palmer West and Jonah Smith, the two Hollywood producers-turned-designers about Aether Apparel, their line of outdoor gear that actually looks cool, we quickly learned just how much their brand was an extension of their own interests in the great outdoors. These guys clearly love sports, but their newest offering, a portable beach chair and table set, speaks just as much to those who just wanna kick back.

The three-piece comes by way of a collaboration with the Los Angeles-based design firm Environment, which works primarily with reclaimed and eco-friendly materials. The chairs and slatted table are made from Ash hardwood, while the canvas seatbacks feature fabric reclaimed from old army tents.

Ideal for the beach and camp sites, the set's best use may be for an outdoor grilling session or tailgating party (maybe at the Belmont Stakes on June 9?). Better yet, everything folds up into a canvas tote (also made from reclaimed tent fabric), which could easily live in the back of your car all season long.

Available for $495 on Aether's website.

Read the full post on Food Republic »

Grilling God: Jonny Hetherington Of The Band Art Of Dying

Matt Rodbard — Wed, 23 May 2012 18:01:07 +0000

He's even made a hot sauce: Sex, Drugs and Habanero

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What We're Reading: Wednesday, May 23

Food Republic — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:31:09 +0000

A survey of food and drink stories from the Web

Amazing Coating For Bottles' Interior Lets Ketchup Flow Like Water - Popsci
Pizzoetrope: Making Animated Gifs Of Pizza - Serious Eats
What To Eat After Wisdom Tooth Surgery - CHOW
Sushi Salmonella Now Affects 21 States - The Atlantic
Eva Solo Grill Globe - Gear Patrol
The Raw Food Diet For Pets - NY Times
The Cupcakewurst: An Unholy Blend Of Sausage And Cupcake - Huffington Post

Got a great link that's piqued your interest today? Either tip us off or tell the world in the comments.

Guinness-Dijon Marinade Recipe

Jess Kapadia — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:01:05 +0000

An easy mustard and beer marinade recipe for steak

There's no need to overcomplicate marinades. You simply need a tenderizing agent, which can definitely multi-task as a flavoring agent. That's right, Guinness is a double agent. And it also loves mustard. Two cats out of the bag right there.

You can use another stout, but I love Guinness' mellow sweetness and lighter carbonation. It should go without saying that actual step 1 is drinking the other half.

Read the full recipe on Food Republic »

Word of the Day: Braii

Food Republic — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:31:14 +0000

Building up your kitchen vocab arsenal

Happy Grilling Month! It doesn’t get much better than summer nights, because that means spending quality time with your grill. So, pull off that depressing barbecue cover and get your braii on.

Braii is the South African version of barbecue. It involves grilling meat outdoors over white-hot embers rather than a traditional American gas or charcoal grill. If you want some techniques to compliment your ever-expanding vocabulary, we recommend you ask Marc Vetri.

Use today’s Word of the Day: Grilling God: Marc Vetri

Grilling God: Michael Chiarello

Richard Martin — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:01:06 +0000

This Napa chef likes playing with fire

Michael Chiarello doesn't mess around when it comes to grilling meats. He got himself an iron cross — he straps whole animals to it and cooks the meat slow and easy (more on that in a minute). But what about those of us who don't own insanely popular Italian restaurants — like Chiarello's Bottega — in the culinary Mecca that is Napa Valley, and who don't have the physical space and/or the technical wherewithal to cook a whole beast over a smoldering fire?

Not to worry, the Alec Baldwin-handsome chef and restaurateur (see also, Michael Chiarello: This Guy's A Charmer) has plenty of practical tips. You can wait till next year when he unveils his book about cooking in and around live fire, Beyond The Barbecue, or you can glean some tips from the man in this Grilling God close-up.

Let's start with the basics: How do we grill our meat better?
The trick to cooking proteins is starting with the meat at room temperature. Most people start with cold meat and it just doesn’t work well that way. Room temperature meat, the muscle tissue opens up and allows the heat to access it. If you ever see a line where it’s well done on the outside and blood red in the middle, that was a cold piece of meat. If they’re medium rare end to end you know you started with a room temperature piece of meat.

And cooking it?
The idea is, even when drilling down with smaller pieces of meat, is low and slow and indirect cooking. We spend so much time thinking about wood-burning grills and the hotter the better. If you’re using grass-fed beef or grass-fed lamb, they’re not gonna have all that internal marbling because they’re not [fed] on grain, so you want to be really gentle with them, these lean proteins. So you put your fire on one side of the Weber, you let it burn down — always cook on an ebbing fire — and you can add little pieces to it to keep the temperature going while you’re doing it. That meditation of cooking is part of it.

What about seasoning?
Season it more than you think. Twice as much salt and pepper than you think, because half of it is going to fall off in the grill, You want the salt to melt in. Use a great salt. I prefer salt from Brittany. It’s coarse, you can rub it into the meat. And it’s more healthful; it has all your body’s micro-nutrients in it. You don’t need so many fancy flavors. Great meat, great salt, fresh ground pepper — and let the meat rest so the juices equalize and stay in it.

Okay, what’s with your cross? How do I get one?
It’s as simple as four pieces of rebar and a heliarc. If anybody knows anyone who can weld it’s simply, like, building an iron cross six foot high. You can either put them straight into the ground — you take an animal and you splay them out and you take some wire from the hardware store and you wire them to the cross, and it has three cross bars and one big vertical. You take the wire and go through the belly flap of the animal and strap them back in.

What about seasoning the meat?
We don’t do anything with them other than a little herb saline — 5 gallons of water brought up to a boil with a box of salt and whatever herbs are around.

And how do you cook the thing?
You build a fire. When the fire begins to calm down a little bit you put the animal right into the ground. The [cross] I had built has something it leans on so it's at a 20-degree angle. Every half hour, take a brush or a ladle and baste over the top of it with the herb saline. The meat cooks really slow for a long period of time, and a few hours into it, you move the coals in and around the animal, and you take a temperature probe and you look at the various temperatures of the meat. For lamb I love it at 125 degrees.

Sounds like a lot of work.
There’s something about tending the fire and your friends are watching this celebration come, so by the time you get to the animal it’s not about how many pounds of meat you can eat, it’s about the entire process and the community of cooking.

More Grilling Gods On Food Republic:

How To Eat Gluten-Free Lunches For A Month, Without Really Trying

Jess Kapadia — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:31:21 +0000

A quick nod to Celiac Awareness Month

I briefly mentioned yesterday in my call to celebrate International Pickle Week that it's also Celiac Awareness Month. Cue bummer music, I know. But this gluten-free trend doesn't seem to be going the way of Atkins. And when I actually think about it, I subconsciously eat gluten-free a lot of the time just because I read too much about food, and quite frankly, wheat is starting to freak me out a little.

With this slight paranoia out in the open, I discovered a wealth of gluten-free lunch options when I went through previous What To Eat For Lunch posts. Surely, something in this cornucopia of alternative starches will appeal. As for a nice mid-afternoon beer to wash it down with...well, they're definitely still working on that. In my lifetime, for sure.

Exotic

Tortillas

Rice

Potatoes

Other stuff

Of course, if you actually suffer from full-on Celiac, don't mess with iffy dishes like Singapore chow mei fun because there's usually at least a splash of soy sauce (50% wheat) in there. Ditto poutine, gravy has a little flour. But look at that list, after reading it I'm starving. All gluten-free. Maybe it's not so crazy after all. Nah, it's crazy.

Los Angeles: Epic Thai Town Crawl With Jet Tila

Jason Kessler — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:01:04 +0000

A writer looks beyond the congealed blood cubes

As a food writer, it's heresy to say you don't eat a certain kind of food. That's why it's more than a little embarrassing to admit that I don't like most Asian cuisine. Japanese in all of its sushi-ramen-yakitori glory is fine by me, but pretty much everything else is out. It's not that I refuse to eat it, it's just that I'll never willingly order it on my own. I've never opted for take-out Chinese on a Sunday night. I've never felt compelled to sit down for a bowl of pho. And I've never had a hankering for pad thai. Until now.

It all started in a gym – DogTown CrossFit, to be exact. It's where I go to try to counteract the effects of 10-course meal after 10-course meal (woe is me). A few months back, a familiar face started working out at DogTown: Chef Jet Tila. You may have seen him battling Morimoto on Iron Chef America or getting shouted-out by Giada for his drunken noodles on Best Thing I Ever Ate. He's now manning the stoves at The Charleston in Santa Monica, and pretty soon there's going to be a lot more Jet Tila in everyone's lives.

I knew Jet through a friend and, while we weren't exactly best buddies, we were friendly enough to say what's up and chat for a few minutes every time we saw each other. The more we worked out (read: cried) near each other, the more we talked. One day when I casually mentioned that I wasn't the world's biggest fan of Thai food, he threw a kettlebell at my head. Okay, okay, the kettlebell part isn't exactly true, but after unsuccessfully trying to defend my position (“I'm just not into curry...”), Jet insisted on showing me around Los Angeles' Thai Town – his Thai Town.

We start at noon on a Wednesday. There are six of us in total – three writers and three chefs, all hungry dudes ready to see Thai Town from an insider's perspective. Luckily, you can't find a more perfect person to lead a Thai Town Crawl than Jet. He grew up here, long before it actually became Thai Town (it became officially sanctioned in 1999). Back in 1972, Jet's father opened the first Thai market in the United States here, which means that Jet's practically the Prince of Thai Town.

Our first stop is Ruen Pair, a non-descript strip mall restaurant off of Hollywood Blvd. Jet checks everyone's spice tolerance and then orders in Thai. He turns to us midway through ordering. “Do you guys eat tripe?” My hopefulness fades. Have I intentionally walked into hell? Jet orders a special drink for me and tells the waitress not to bring out the can so I won't know what it is. I instantly expect tripe juice. Is that a thing? I hope not. The drink comes. It's bright yellow. The urine jokes begin. I take a sip. Oh wow. It's slightly floral, pleasantly sweet, and incredibly refreshing. What am I drinking? Chrysanthemum iced tea. Jet says they sell it in plastic bags on the street in Thailand. I immediately want to be in Phuket with a non-stop supply of this stuff. So far, so good.

The food arrives and, for our initial stop, it's a lot. Two orders of fried and marinated pork jerky (moo dat deow), two papaya salads with tiny dried shrimp (som tum), and one plate of stewed tripe (dung poo). The tripe is a hit with almost everyone. They actually seem to have tempered the gaminess quite a bit, but at the end of the day, tripe is tripe and I'm not a tripe lover. Jet describes it as having the texture of squid and he's right, but that's not necessarily a good thing in my opinion. I like when squid has the texture of squid. I'd prefer if the tripe was invisible. The papaya salad and pork jerky, on the other hand, more than made up for the tripe.

“Thais eat by the restaurant,” Jet tells us. “If you want papaya salad, you go to Ruen Pair.” After taking a bite, it made sense. Ruen Pair's papaya salad is an excellent balance of the holy quadrant of classic Thai flavors: spicy, sour, salty and sweet. While the salad is really solid, the number-one stunner is actually the pork jerky. This is no Slim Jim. Thick chunks of pork are fried and marinated in a sort of mystery umami bath to create little flavor bombs that would be equally comfortable on a plate with lettuce wraps, or in a burrito with some sticky rice and spicy fish sauce. Even though we all know that we have four more stops, both plates of jerky are completely gone by the time we leave. If another plate showed up, that would have disappeared, too.

In an effort to cut down on travel time, Jet makes the executive decision to hit a nearby bakery to stockpile desserts for after lunch. Bhan Kanom Thai is in the same strip mall as Ruen Pair, so it's just a quick walk across the parking lot. Jet stops me before I set foot inside and smiles as he says “your nose is about to get a handjob.” I was intrigued, as my nose hasn't gotten any kind of job in years.

His sentiments were spot on. The smell of sugar hits you as soon as you walk in and all of a sudden you're in this Thai sugar fantasy where coconut milk, rice, bananas and palm sugar combine to form a sort of Captain Planet of dessert. Jet goes nuts and buys roughly half the items in the store including some coconut rice fritters (kanom krok) that still haunt my dreams.

After our sugar rush detour, we head to Hoy Ka Noodle for their eponymous Hoy Ka noodle soup. Hoy Ka means “dangling feet,” which will come in handy if I ever see kids sitting on a bridge in Bangkok. The soup itself seems like the creation of an overzealous grandma at a Thai buffet. Inside is ground pork, pork liver, pork ball, fish cake, Chinese BBQ pork, dried shrimp, green beans, bean sprouts, scallions and dried chilis. The broth is fairly unusual. It's sour, but not overwhelmingly so.

Jet adds fish sauce to mine to balance out the flavors a little more. While the pork jerky and papaya salad at Ruen Pair brought me a step closer to Thai Food Acceptance (TFA), the soup is doing the opposite. I've never had the inclination to eat pork ball and fish cake before. Those feelings have not changed. It may be partly because two people at the table have launched into a discussion of why there's no congealed blood in the soup. They talk as if that's the magic ingredient that's missing. If I never hear the phrase “congealed blood” again in my life, I'd happily eat another pork ball.

On the way to our next stop, I see a sign for a$3 haircut. After briefly debating the pros and cons, I decide against it. Ten minutes of happy ending jokes later, we arrive at Yai, in yet another strip mall. Yai bills itself as Thai-Chinese on their menu, but Jet assures us that it's pure Thai. In fact, Jet's really excited to be here, which becomes evident when five different dishes hit the table. My stomach is angry at me, and I'll pay for that later.

Our bounty consists of crab fried rice (cow pad poo), crispy pork belly with Chinese broccoli (moo krob), five-spice pork leg, steamed seafood curry (har mok talay) and a catfish salad that didn't appear to contain any catfish — nor did it look like a salad. These are the final lessons in my Thai food education, and I intend to be some sort of Thai Food Valedictorian.

At this point, it's all a blur of mildly spicy retrospection. The crispy pork belly is a perfect example of the protein. I'll never understand how they can pack so many different textures into one tiny square of pork. The seafood curry is unlike anything I've ever had – a kind of curry custard seafood landmine that explodes every time someone takes a forkful. The weaponry comparison is appropriate because by the time we finish, the table looks like the carnage from a blown-up Thai food court. I'm full and I'm happy. Who am I?

There's one more stop on the Tila Thai Tour: Bangkok Market. The place that started Jet's lifelong relationship with food and the embodiment of all that I fear with Asian cuisine. If you're Thai in Los Angeles, this is where you shop. Jet leads me around and shows me all kinds of things I've never seen before. Jars of shrimp paste line the shelves near fresh bamboo shoots and gingko nuts. Pork loaf, Chinese sausage and a package of purplish meat labeled “miscellaneous” sit uneasily near each other in a refrigerated case. Four hours ago, I would have recoiled at how foreign everything seemed. Now, I'm wondering if they sell any pork jerky.

I leave the store with a bottle of sriracha. Not the Huy Fong “Rooster” brand that's made in Rosemead, CA. This is the real deal. The kind Huy Fong based their sauce on, Jet tells me. I take it home and feel proud to know that I'm going to use it. I don't know when, but I know the day is coming when I pick up the phone and actually order Thai food. Because, as of this moment, the impossible has happened. I can actually say that I like Thai food. Now who wants to make me like Chinese?

Ruen Pair, 5257 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, 323-466-0153
Bhan Kanom Thai, 5271 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, 323-871-8030
Hoy Ka Noodle, 5401 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, 323-463-1339
Yai, 5757 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, 323-462-0292
Bangkok Market, 4757 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, 323-662-9705

Grilling With Sammy Hagar: Emeril, Tequila And Tubesteaks With The Scorpions

Matt Rodbard — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:01:05 +0000

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has got kitchen moves

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Ivy Stark On How To Buy/Ripen Avocados

Eleanor West — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:01:13 +0000

The Dos Caminos chef lets us in on her secrets

Last weekend Dos Caminos chef Ivy Stark ran the Brooklyn Half-Marathon, then stayed on her feet to teach a crowd in Manhattan about the art of buying and ripening avocados. In between making avocado cocktails and tempura avocado Baja tacos (which you could easily make using our avocado fries recipe as the taco filler), Stark let us in on some of her avocado-buying secrets — and as Executive Chef at one of New York’s favorite Mexican joints, it’s no wonder she knows all there is to know about this tasty fruit. Below are her words of wisdom:

Picking out a perfectly ripe avocado
1. March through September is the best time to find good California-grown Haas avocados. Look for one with a nice black skin that yields slightly under pressure when you squeeze it. You don’t want it to be too soft or too hard. It should just yield gently.

2. The pit should be intact. If it’s not oxygen can get in and turn the avocado brown. So you may have a beautiful avocado on the outside that’s brown on the inside.

Ripening avocados in a pinch
If you happen to be stuck in a situation where you can’t find a ripe avocado, buy an unripe one and put it in a paper bag with apples. Apples let off a natural gas that speeds up the ripening process.

Keeping guacamole from turning brown
Make guacamole right before you serve it at a party (at the maximum two or three hours ahead of time). To keep it green, place a piece of plastic wrap right on top of the guacamole, pushing out all of the air so it’s flush, and then cover it with plastic wrap again. Put it in the refrigerator and if there’s a little bit of brown on top just skim it off before you serve.

Check out these Ivy Stark recipes on Food Republic:

Seven Deadly Wine Glasses

Laila Gohar — Tue, 22 May 2012 21:01:06 +0000

Drink to lust, gluttony, greed, sloth and more

London artist Kacper Hamilton created wine glasses inspired by the seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. Each glass embodies a sin, which is revealed through the process of drinking. “The 7 Deadly Glasses are about celebrating passion and encouraging the user to be sinful in a theatrical fashion. The display case is a sarcophagus for the wine glasses, made using mahogany wood, brass fittings and a velvet fabric lining,” explains Hamilton.

More photos and info over at Dezeen.

Read the full post on Food Republic »

London: Hus Vedat, A Not-So-Secret Chef

Chantal Martineau — Tue, 22 May 2012 20:01:21 +0000

There's a clandestine past at the St. Ermin’s Hotel

Hus Vedat wears chef whites to work instead of a trench coat and dark glasses, but the building in which he cooks everyday was once better known for its furtive spy meetings than its squid ink raviolo.

London's St. Ermin’s Hotel, which reopened last year under new ownership after a nearly $50 million restoration project, was a hot spot for British intelligence agents during the mid-20^th century. The recent film, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, based on the John le Carré classic spy novel of the same name, is said to be loosely based on events that took place in the hotel.

“I grew up with James Bond until I was a bit older and realized I didn’t like James Bond,” says Vedat, who helms the Caxton Grill in St. Ermin’s Hotel. “Not sure if there are people still leaving suitcases filled with secret documents here and saying, ‘Charlie Foxtrot,’ but we’re still near Scotland Yard.”

The hotel does, indeed, continue to play host to Scotland Yard regulars, but it’s hard to say if spies still hang out in the bar (which was once shadowy and is now incredibly warm and stylish), or are still recruited in the restaurant, as they once were. Not only was the MI6, Britain’s secret intelligence agency, based in the hotel, but Winston Churchill formed the Special Operations Executive here, an elite team of covert agents enlisted to gather intel that would eventually help bring down Hitler and, later, the Soviet Union.

So, what does this all mean for his menu? First of all, the secret is out. This guy has some skills.

Vedat cooks in a modern-European style and is a staunch follower of the local, seasonal farm-to-fork movement. It means that he spends a lot of time in markets seeking out new ingredients, and even pops up to the roof on occasion where the hotel houses its own hive of bees. The bees provide honey for a number of dishes, including afternoon tea service.

“In the U.K., we go through seasons where we don’t have very much to work with apart from beetroot, apples and pears. It creates a challenge, but it also informs my style,” he explains.

Vadat says he’s inspired by his wife’s family, who are winemakers in Rioja, where eating what’s in season is a way of life rather than a trend. His in-laws provide more than mere inspiration: they produce a wine, Riba Guda, that is on Caxton Grill’s list. Guests can sample it by the glass, carafe, bottle, or even as part of a Spanish flight of three.

Come this summer, when London hosts the Olympics, the hotel and restaurant (including the terrace, a rare amenity in the city) will surely be busy, especially given its prime location steps from St. James Park in Westminster. So, if you’re planning a trip across the pond to watch the games, you had better book soon.

As for the chef's London picks, Vedat says he’s lucky to be able to eat out quite a bit despite the demands of running a high-profile hotel kitchen. He recommends Mishkin’s, a self-proclaimed “kind of Jewish deli with cocktails” in Covent Garden; and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental in Hyde Park.

“We’re not going to do a specific Olympic menu, like ‘runner beans’ or something like that,” jokes Vedat. “We just do what we do. We just might be a bit busier.”

More London Coverage On Food Republic:

BBQ Pork Ribs Recipe

Jess Kapadia — Tue, 22 May 2012 19:01:05 +0000

Food Republic made pork ribs. They were awesome.

Learning how to make BBQ pork ribs on the grill instantly makes you the person who knows how to make BBQ ribs on the grill. This was far from my first time, but it was definitely my first time making a full 8-pound rack of them.

This being a truly gigantic rack of ribs, and me being a relatively small chick, I will admit to needing some help flipping the behemoth on the grill. Knowing the rest of the edit team, there's a video somewhere of my sad attempts to flip them solo. (There's likely a scene where I'm yelling "guys, flare-up, flare-up!" to no avail.) That's why I'm in the test kitchen and not at the BBQ pit. But I'm sure you'll be fine — and there's no shame in asking for assistance when making one of the most hardcore deliciously grilled meats out there, right?

As for the sauce, pick your favorite. There's a whole world of barbecue sauce out there just waiting to be brushed onto ribs. A whole world...

Read the full recipe on Food Republic »

Illustrated Guide to Grilling: Australia

David Navas and Judy Cantor-Navas — Tue, 22 May 2012 18:31:09 +0000

Here's how they cook on the grill Down Under

Read the full post on Food Republic »

Grilling God: Marc Vetri

Matt Rodbard — Tue, 22 May 2012 18:02:29 +0000

“Wood makes everything taste better."

May is Grilling Month at Food Republic, where we are offering pro tips from chefs and other well-known grilling gods.

When you talk about the Philadelphia restaurant scene, you talk about Marc Vetri and then you talk about the other guys. And this is not to say the other guys are shabby — people like Stephen Starr and Jose Garces run very good restaurants that kick the pants off most of the restaurants operating in that so important city 100 miles to the Northeast.

At last weekend’s GoogaMooga Festival in Brooklyn, we caught up with Vetri after he had finished grilling over 300 mortadella hot dogs in the event’s VIP section. After cooking all those tubesteaks, you would expect the guy to be a little, well, schvitzy. Not true for the cool and collected Vetri. He's a grilling god if we’ve ever met one.

What’s your grilling set-up like at home in your backyard?
I actually have a Mario Batali wood oven. Thank you, Mario. I use the wood oven for everything. I made seafood risotto in it for Mother’s Day and it was unbelievable.

What do you tend to grill?
I like to grill everything. Sometimes I’ll get wood from the restaurant and use the oven. Sometimes I’ll get one of those sliced oil drums and I’ll stick one of those outside. I like to wood fire anything. Meat and fish. Wood makes everything taste better.

Grilling over a wood fire just seems difficult to me.
I think it’s easier. You must have a little bit of knowledge because there is no lowering that fire. You have to know to move the wood to one side, and you don’t want to stick food right on flaming wood. You must let the wood burn down and move over the coals.

Regardless or gas, charcoal or wood, what’s the best grilling tip you can offer our readers?
I don’t oil the fish or meat, directly. I oil the grill and then gently stick the meat or fish on there.

Instead of throwing it down, you're stressing gentle.
Everyone sticks the fish in the oil and then on the grill. I like to take a rag and dip it in oil and rub it on and let it get hot and stick the fish on there. Then it won’t stick.

How do you know your grill is ready to go?
When you can’t stick your hand over it.

What is your stance on veggie burgers? Can you deal with those?
I wouldn’t even know how to make one if you asked me to.

What about vegetables?
I love vegetables. I do veggies on the grill all the time.

What was the last crazy grilling party you threw in your backyard?
For Halloween I did a whole pig. We stuck a big grill outside and we did like the whole suckling pig and made pork sandwiches with it. It was lots of fun.

Meet The Other Grill Gods On Food Republic:

What We're Reading: Tuesday, May 22

Food Republic — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:31:08 +0000

A survey of food and drink stories from the Web

We Have So Many Questions About This Self-Cooking Egg Grenade – Gizmodo
An Entrepreneur Bankrolls A Genetically Superior Salmon – The New York Times
Yogurt Pepsi, Tuna Mayo Doritos, Seaweed Pringles And Other Crazy Snack Flavors Around The Globe – CNN
The ‘Papple,’ Tasted And Tested – The Guardian
Watch: Magician Pours Beer From iPad – Huffington Post
Move Over, Maple Syrup, Birch Syrup May Challenge Your Sweet Rule – NPR
What’s Covered Under The Farm Bill? – The Atlantic

Got a great link that's piqued your interest today? Either tip us off or tell the world in the comments.

Coca-Cola Barbecue Sauce Recipe

Kendra Bailey Morris — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:01:12 +0000

Feeling thirsty? This sauce recipe calls for a Coke

We can only hope you know the sweetness of the perfect barbecue sauce. It's tangy and a little spicy too, but when the sweet flavor hits that fatty meat it's a force to be reckoned with. Plenty of people just use brown sugar in their barbecue sauce recipes, but we've found that 2/3 of a can of Coke gives it a sharp, sweet kick.

Just make sure the soda's flat. Or don't — we're sure you're one of those guys who just loves scraping burnt crap off your stovetop.

Read the full recipe on Food Republic »

Word of the Day: Jamun

Food Republic — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:31:14 +0000

Building up your kitchen vocab arsenal

We’re jamun, and hope you like jamun too. Did that make you think of your high school rock band days? That's not what we're talking about. Sorry.

Jamun is a berry found in India that turns from green to pink when it's maturing, and black when it is ripe. Talk about mood changes. The berry is slightly sour with a predominantly sweet taste and will turn your tongue entirely purple (no, you can't find this in the Willy Wonka Factory). But you can find it in traditional Eid desserts. Only 87 days to go.

Use today’s Word of the Day: Celebrate Eid Al-Fitr With Dessert

Ticket Giveaway: Anthony Bourdain at BAM

Food Republic — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:16:39 +0000

NYC: See Tony Bourdain play a big show in Brooklyn

Read the full post on Food Republic »

London: The Food At Wembley

Garry Hayes — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:01:12 +0000

A soccer playoff and tasty eats for the press corps

Wembley Stadium. It’s one of the most iconic sporting venues across the globe and as such, any event there is instantly over subscribed with requests from the world’s media.

The FA Cup Final, UEFA Champions League Final, The Football League Play-Offs — all are major global events that have captured the imagination, having been staged at the new venue since its redevelopment in 2007.

Food Republic formed a part of the media scrum last Saturday at this year’s Championship Play-Off Final between Blackpool and West Ham United, but from the outset, it became apparent that events at Wembley are perhaps not the only attraction for members of the press pack in the modern era.

The Championship Play-Off Final is often dubbed the richest game in soccer, with the winners of the match being promoted to the English Premier League and receiving an estimated $150 million windfall.

But ahead of kick-off on Saturday, it was difficult to focus, as the culinary delights on offer in the press booth screamed at us.

The menu consisted of corn-fed chicken on a bed of couscous complimented with a desert of banana tart and chocolate sauce. Remove the image of journalists punching away at their laptops, sweating over deadlines and we could very well have been in a famous West End eatery as we tucked into our food.

It was more than sufficient for a cost-free meal ahead of any occasion, but what was perhaps more striking was that it came before a soccer game. What’s happened to the trusted burger and fries combo from yesteryear? Even pie and mash? It’s a question that continues to evade us as we dig a little deeper into English soccer, but on this evidence, frankly, who gives a damn?

The match itself threw up its fair share of entertainment, with Carlton Cole’s opener for West Ham being the perfect starter. Thomas Ince’s equalizer for Blackpool shortly after the interval was very much a worthy main, but the 45,000 West Ham supporters in attendance were dished up the perfect dessert when Ricardo Vaz Te sealed the victory for the Hammers with his 87th-minute strike.

They call Wembley the Venue of Legends. If the press box food is anything to go by, such status could very well switch from the playing field to the kitchen.

Food Republic's Global Tour De Pickle

Jess Kapadia — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:31:13 +0000

It's International Pickle Week! For real.

Happy International Pickles Week, everyone! While it may not have anything on Food Republic's Macaroni Salad Week, I'm loving on the idea that everyone has barbecue sides on the mind. It is Grilling Month, after all. While we're at it, it's also Celiac Awareness Month for anyone humoring their trendsetting friends/family members/significant others/Miley Cyrus. And, what luck, pickles are gluten-free. Did the International Association of Dumbass Food Holidays plan the two events to coincide? They must have, it's just too convenient.

Pickles, back to my point, are an international phenomenon. Every food culture has them, and isn't afraid to use them. Even the word "pickle" means something different to everyone. In the United States and Canada, pickles refer to cucumbers. In England, a pickle is either a pickled onion or the short way of referring to a sweet and sour relish known as Branson's pickle. In India, pickle is a condiment made from mustard oil-cured fruits or vegetables left in the sun. And the tour goes on.

This, from the ever-baffling Wikipedia: "Koolickles" are a Southern treat consisting of pickles with Kool-Aid added to the brine. This is why jars are and should be hard to open. For everyone. Not just kids.
Japanese tsukemono is a dish of lightly brined cucumbers and onions (though other vegetables like daikon and carrots are sometimes used), served with absolutely everything that involves rice. So, everything.
Vietnamese pickled shallots are sweet, crunchy and super-addictive out of the jar. I discovered these while working as an intern at Saveur, where we were paid in odd things from the freebies table in the mail room. This discovery and a set of giant oversized novelty wine glasses made it totally worth it.
Pickled turnips colored bright magenta with beet juice are a common sight in the Middle East.
Hey look, the Brits peeled hard-boiled eggs and stuck them in jars of vinegar. Gross.
Moroccan pickled lemons season everything from couscous to tagines. Yes, I just named the two most Moroccan things besides pickled lemons that came to mind. These may be the easiest pickles to make ever: score tops of lemons, cram tightly into a jar with salt, and leave be.
Kimchi. Enough said.

Important thing to know: Amerigo Vespucci, New World explorer who loaned his moniker to the good 'ol U-S of A, was originally a pickle seller in his native Seville, Spain. Yes folks, we come from pickles and dreams really can come true. Here are five additional very important things to know about pickling. You only have three days left. Find a pickle-friendly lunch and have at it.

More on pickles at Food Republic:

Grilling God: Martha Stewart

Gabi Porter — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:01:05 +0000

Mogul of the hand-crafted has thoughts on charring

May is Grilling Month at Food Republic, where we are offering pro tips from chefs and other well-known grilling gods.

We had the opportunity sit down with the inimitable Martha Stewart and ask her for some grilling tips and advice at a recent New York City book signing for her new cookbook Martha's American Food: A Celebration of Our Nation's Most Treasured Dishes.

Our first impressions of the mightily impressive mogul of the hand-crafted were: there is nothing a normal person can do that Martha can't do 10 times better. Even if you don't have a custom-made flat grill handy (what do you mean you don't?), all she asks is that you just don't char the meat, people!

Gives us your best “quick grilling tip from Martha Stewart."
Many people use too hot a fire and char their food. I hate charred food and I think grilling should be as careful, and well orchestrated, as cooking on a stove. For me, I use a large custom-made flat grill that a friend of mine made for me. I get the coals really hot before I start to cook and use a spray bottle to keep the flames from sputtering. I try to cook slowly and well. Without charring.

What’s a good side that you would recommend?
My potato salad or our macaroni salad is amazing.

What do you think are the mistakes people make with, say, turkey burgers?
Over cooking and [adding] not enough flavoring. Turkey can dry out real fast!

More grilling tips on Food Republic:

Desserts Spinning On Vinyl

Laila Gohar — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:31:13 +0000

Where sweet tooth meets sweet tracks

What do you get when a chef collaborates with a musician? Dolly Parton colliding with candied pears and The Pixies mixed with panna cotta, to take two examples by Stockholm-based duo Philip Karlberg and Mattias Nyhlin, who create images of desserts spinning atop vinyl records. Each dessert is paired with what they feel is a complementary record. Also, check out this spotify playlist that corresponds to each dessert.

Read the full post on Food Republic »

NYC Designer Alex Caputo Dines Out Daily

Laura Neilson — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:01:06 +0000

An emerging designer loves food—just not cooking it

Caputo & Co.'s recently launched line of leather accessories and bags dutifully mixes style and function by offering the kind of accessories you need on a daily basis, but you'd gladly own anyhow. Duffels and totes in canvas and leather, and even some featuring handwoven textiles from South America, intended for the day-to-day haul are easy and slouchy, while looking unique and modern — pretty much the perfect choice for when you want to retire that nylon, college-era messenger.

And we recently learned that Caputo's namesake designer, Alex, is one socially conscious guy. Because he really thinks about his collection, from who's buying the bags, belts and iPad cases, right on back through the manufacturing and sourcing process, he's partnered up with a non-profit organization to provide jobs and fair wages to artisans and workers in Guatemala (hence the textiles).

He's also giving a lot back to the NYC restaurant industry, as the Chelsea-based designer explains, "I eat out or order in almost every single meal." We wonder what his accountant thinks of his dining budget.

You were recently traveling in Asia. Was it for work or vacation?
I was in Tokyo, Bangkok and Hong Kong, and met with a potential public relations agency in Tokyo that would handle the Japanese market. Then, I camped out at my favorite hotel in Bangkok, The Metropolitan, and began designing my spring 2013 collection without any distractions — with excellent Thai food room service.

Where are you originally from?
I am originally from Caracas, Venezuela.

How long have you been in New York?
Over a decade.

Long enough to witness a lot of changes in the city’s dining scene. Where are some of your favorite places to eat in the city right now?
El Cocotero has great Venezuelan food; La Bottega [at the Maritime Hotel] for easy, affordable Italian; Westville — I literally order dinner from them almost every night; Meatball Shop has great take-out without the long lines; and Omai for Vietnamese.

Last great memorable meal — home-cooked or at a restaurant?
In my recent trip to Bangkok I ate at Zuma, a Japanese restaurant in the St. Regis Hotel in Bangkok, which was amazing. Any meal my mom cooks is memorable and delicious.

Do you take after her? Any favorite recipes?
I literally don't have the patience to cook. I eat out or order in every meal, including toast and egg whites each morning.

You could probably write a take-out guide to the city. Ok, so you probably don’t have a lot of kitchen gadgets or any favorite cooking tools...
I do love my lime squeezer for making margaritas.

What does the inside of your fridge look like?
Sparkling water, two bottles of champagne, fresh fruit and mustard.

And your drinks of choice?
Red wine and margaritas.

Do you pay attention to food labels when you eat?
I generally try to stay away from high sodium and sugar foods.

Any guilty pleasures?
Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby ice cream and anything with peanut butter!!!

Just for the record, we know who your trainer is, and he has a similar weakness for peanut butter. How would you describe your daily uniform?
Khakis, jeans and any shirt from Burkman Bros.

Do you have a bag from your collection that you use every day? What do you keep in it?
A large navy leather tote from my Fall 2011 collection. I like it because it has a lot of room for clothes for the gym, my laptop and whatever else I’m bringing to the office.

Men in bracelets: how does a first-timer pull it off?
I feel men are paying more attention than ever to their accessories, especially bracelets. Pick one that works with your style.

What's the best sartorial advice you've received?
It is all about mixing it up. And accessories can make or break an outfit.

More Style Talk on Food Republic:

Plan It, Cook it, Kitchit.

Jess Kapadia — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:01:05 +0000

Kitchit co-founder George Tang talks bespoke chefs

Leave it to a Stanford man to create a website that people love to use, yet creates little to no controversy in the financial world. In fact, three Stanford men — George Tang and fellow Kitchit co-founders Brendan Marshall and Ian Ferguson — created a site that matches an ever-growing database of restaurant and independent chefs with people in need of a chef for a night. Consider that niche filled. I had the chance to hang out with Tang at Kitchit's New York launch, a spectacular dinner by ABC Kitchen's Dan Kluger, and ask him how he ended up with this "catering gig," so to speak, with his shiny new degree in computer science. Yup, George is 21.

Why a food website? Aren't Stanford men supposed to be creating the next LinkedIn or an algorithm that matches people on Gchat based on how funny they are?
Sure we're Stanford men and the computer science department is known for strong technology, but there are other problems to solve. The three of us were really passionate about the food space. Food is this thing that brings people together, it's where all our happiest memories are.

I think there's this perception, especially at the top schools, that engineers are supposed to work on hard technical problems. I have no problem with that, but ultimately it's just great to have really smart, talented people who want to build something. No, it's not necessarily "really hard engineering," but it's still great minds coming together from different backgrounds.

You must have an interesting food background to be going all in on a food website. Where did you grow up?
I was born in the US and grew up in the Phillippines, Singapore, Thailand, Bangladesh and China. My food background is pretty amazingly diverse, actually. I used to like very traditional Filipino food, and Singapore is a mashup of Thai, Indian, Malaysian and Chinese. They're different flavors you don't find anywhere else — delicious, obviously.

I used to cook for my parents. They worked really hard and it was something I would do once or twice a week. I'm not very good, I made the same few things, but it definitely showed me it was something I could do to give back to my parents in a tangible way, other than doing well in school. I was like, "My parents are eating my food, and maybe they're faking enjoying it but they're eating it."

A culinary child, eh? Would you be down with an all-Kitchit staff-cooked dinner?
An all-Kitchit dinner would be terrible (laughs). You need a lead cook in there and I know Brendan is not that and Ian is not that. I think we would have to tap the shoulders of some of our chefs. It might be awesome though, maybe we could cook for our chefs. Actually no, that'd be a lot of pressure. I'm going to go with no.

Cool, yeah, stick to actual chefs. What's the largest dinner Kitchit has put together so far?
We have done a 150-person dinner, which was done by three of our chefs in collaboration. It was a big upscale event. We have chefs who do everything from 5,000-person corporate catering all the way down to a two-person intimate romantic dinner. It's about making sure that the client has the right chef for what they want. We don't stand in the way of the chef in any way; we're more of a storefront for them to express themselves and build their craft. Most of our events are 10-20 people in an intimate environment, the chef's right there, you can talk to him and everyone can sit around and have a great time.

How does the current incarnation of Kitchit differ from your original brainstorm?
I wouldn't say it's changed much. At first we thought, "there's not a lot of good recipe apps out there," so we were brainstorming around that space and in doing so, we ended up talking to a lot of chefs. We said, "tell us about your history with food and why you got into it," and discovered a whole ecosystem these chefs go through, school and stuff. We realized the chef is the key to this entire system, the lynchpin is that the chef's the artist, the creator and the visionary of all the food that you eat.

The "aha moment" took about a month. We thought, "Hey, what if we brought chefs into your kitchen and had them teach you what to buy and cook? Well if the chefs are already in there, then why not have them cook for you? It might work better than have them teach you everything." And that was that.

What is the single strangest request you've received to date?
A bachelorette party wanted to do an Iron Chef competition. The chef picked the ingredients, split them into three groups and had a cookoff with the chef making sure they were doing the right things, then judged them. I thought that was hilarious. In New York, a mom sent a request saying "My 10-year-old loves to cook and wants to be the next Mario Batali. Could I have someone come in and teach him how to cook?" It was adorable, I was like, "This is the greatest mom ever and this kid is so lucky." So, Kitchit works in a lot of ways.

Any haters?
Not so much. I think once we get bigger there probably will be, but all of our chefs so far have understood what we're trying to do. They see it as a way to be able to express their art without having to work in a restaurant or tag of selling out by being a private chef. On the client side we haven't gotten a single bad review so far. The experience has been amazing and that's what we're all about — quality, making sure each experience is a magical one.

Kitchit.com has launched in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. Check it out for your next dinner party — you won't be disappointed. If your experience isn't magical, we know where to find George.

Illustrated Guide to Grilling: Argentina

David Navas and Judy Cantor-Navas — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:31:16 +0000

Get to know the Argentine grill. Or, parrilla.

Read the full post on Food Republic »

Photos: Rematch!!! Beeyatch!!! In NYC

Gabi Porter — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:01:53 +0000

A speed tiki contest to end all speed tiki contests

There's been a lot of talk back and forth lately about cocktail contests — whether they suck or whether they are awesome. We will be the first (and not last) to say that the It's a Rematch!!!! Beeyatch!!!!! event that went down in New York City on May 14, to close out the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, did not suck. In fact, the reason this story is being published a solid week after the event went down at Macao in Tribeca is because it did not suck AT ALL.

To recap, Rematch is a speed tiki contest in which competitors must make two daiquiris and one of each the following: Caipirinha, mojito, pina colada, zombie, cuba libre, planter’s punch, mai tai and, finally, open a beer. Winners are determined by a combination of fastest time, and taste and presentation penalties.

At competition start we already knew that London's Bobby Hiddleston, from Milk & Honey, had the best global time (with penalties), a difficult 1:29 to beat. Yael Vengroff, Miss Speed Rack, valiantly held the lead in New York through several rounds with a 2:16 posted. But it was not enough to win. Skinny showman Steve Schneider, from Employees Only/Macao, broke the "world record" in terms of time. He finished in 1:21 minutes, but after penalties was awarded a 1:36. That wasn't enough to beat the London winner.

There was also some high drama and theatrical hijinks. Johan Ekelund from Happiness Forgets in London pulled a "Phil Collins at Live Aid" and competed in the London Rematch, then immediately got on a plane and competed in NYC. John Lermayer from the Florida Room, winner of an similar event in New Orleans, shattered his pina colada glass when he slammed it down on the bar to punctuate the end of a tough round and was disqualified. There's no crying (or broken glass) in Rematch.

A disappointment for New York, but legends were born and smack-talking between bartenders across global borders continues. Here are some photos of the action.

Food Republic

Tennessee Whiskey Barbecue Sauce Recipe

Mastering The Art Of The Grill Date

Read the previous installment of Heart Attack on Food Republic.

7 Crucial Stops On The American Whiskey Trail

Video: Michelle Bernstein Didn't Kill Her Career!

Beer Can Chicken Recipe

Grilling God: Linton Hopkins

How To Mix Cocktails In The Great Outdoors

Grilling God: Michael Lomonaco

Chris Cosentino And A New Crop of Top Chef Masters Head To Vegas

What We're Reading: Thursday, May 24

Poll: What Are You Grilling This Weekend?

Word of the Day: Deglaze

Grilling God: Richard Blais

Test Kitchen: Leftover Meat Porn

30 Beers To Drink Over Memorial Day Weekend

On Carving Up Country Ham

Tested: Schmidt Bros. 15-Piece Downtown Block

South Carolina Barbecue Sauce Recipe

Grilled Veggie “Sausage” With Peppers and Onions Recipe

Ticket Giveaway: Anthony Bourdain at BAM

Illustrated Guide To Grilling: China

NYC: Wellness In The Schools Annual Benefit

How To Get The Most Out Of Daytime Drinking

Bring out the blender!

Piña Colada Recipe

Do as the English do

Classic Pimm’s Cup Recipe

Cider Cup Recipe

Get in on Brazil’s national drink

Caipirinha Recipe

Gin and Tonics

Read more Drink Ford Tough on Food Republic.

Aether's Outdoor Chair and Table Set

Grilling God: Jonny Hetherington Of The Band Art Of Dying

What We're Reading: Wednesday, May 23

Guinness-Dijon Marinade Recipe

Word of the Day: Braii

Grilling God: Michael Chiarello

How To Eat Gluten-Free Lunches For A Month, Without Really Trying

Los Angeles: Epic Thai Town Crawl With Jet Tila

Grilling With Sammy Hagar: Emeril, Tequila And Tubesteaks With The Scorpions

Ivy Stark On How To Buy/Ripen Avocados

Seven Deadly Wine Glasses

London: Hus Vedat, A Not-So-Secret Chef

BBQ Pork Ribs Recipe

Illustrated Guide to Grilling: Australia

Grilling God: Marc Vetri

What We're Reading: Tuesday, May 22

Coca-Cola Barbecue Sauce Recipe

Word of the Day: Jamun

Ticket Giveaway: Anthony Bourdain at BAM

London: The Food At Wembley

Food Republic's Global Tour De Pickle

Grilling God: Martha Stewart

Desserts Spinning On Vinyl

NYC Designer Alex Caputo Dines Out Daily

Plan It, Cook it, Kitchit.

Illustrated Guide to Grilling: Argentina

Photos: Rematch!!! Beeyatch!!! In NYC