The latest and greatest news about celebrity chefs, served up buffet style.
– Learn how to cook like former Top Chef-er Spike Mendelsohn. Whether or not you wear a jaunty hat while in the kitchen is completely up to you.
– Padma Lakshmi is not just awkward in prime time — she’s awkward in late night, too!
After the jump…a food fight, the fishermen’s plight and my new channel don’t look right.
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I currently have three — three! — kinds of soy sauce in my refrigerator. So why is it that I can’t make a decent stir-fry?
I really do find it astounding that I’m the proud(?) owner of three varieties of the stuff that they give you for free at Chinese takeout restaurants. But the saltwater that they put in those plastic packages is absolutely vile, so buying myself a bottle of Pearl River Bridge soy sauce was a no-brainer. If you can get your hands on that brand, I really recommend it! I’m sure I needed a bottle of dark soy sauce for a teriyaki recipe or something, so I grabbed a bottle of that at some point, too.
But when I pulled a recipe out of my Thai cookbook this weekend, I was required to add to my collection by purchasing sweet soy sauce, also known as kecap manis, which I didn’t even know existed until just now. I’d go to the trouble of describing for you what sweet soy sauce tastes like, but if you just add some molasses to your regular soy sauce, it’s pretty much just that.
The dish, a Thai take on beef with broccoli in a nam pla/sweet soy sauce, was a bit overly-sweet and generally flat. Which means it’s exactly like every other stir-fry sauce I seem to try. I’ve varied all elements…soy, mirin, garlic, sherry, ginger, oyster sauce, sesame oil…you name it. But I just can’t seem to get a brown sauce that ever measures up to decent take out.
So I’m begging you, dear readers: Does anyone have a foolproof recipe or set of ingredient ratios that can help me out? I’m perfectly happy to keep ordering out — I can’t get my scallion pancake as good as they do at China King — but I’d like to be able to whip up a good weeknight chicken and string beans every now and then!
(Photo: FotoosVanRobin)
The latest and greatest news about celebrity chefs, served up buffet style.
– A Japanese food show sends celebs to sketchy restaurants, braving serious infections for great food. I wonder if Gansie is re-thinking that half-cooked egg?
– Yes, I’m actually required to include every mention of Sam Talbot, especially when they use the word “photogenic.”
After the jump…Food Network isn’t trying to kill me, Gordo looses the respect of another chef and a date I’ve had circled on my calendar for a while.
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The latest and greatest news about celebrity chefs, served up buffet style.
– Funny, but if I was Tweeting when I should be busy doing my job, I’d be fired, not profiled by the Associated Press. But then again I’m not Rick Bayless, and I’m not cooking for world leaders.
– All of a sudden, Rocco DiSpirito doesn’t seem like such a giant asshole! At least he hasn’t tried to hire a homeless guy to kill his wife.
After the jump…go to school without putting on your pants, meet someone who watches more food TV than me and find out why Paula Deen is going to kill your kids.
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The latest and greatest news about celebrity chefs, served up buffet style.
– Lots of local news from Phoodie: Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro (seen above across from my office…really!!) are in Philly shooting The Dark Fields and they grabbed dinner at Cuba Libre.
– Iron Chef Jose Garces is firing up a taco truck and will be announcing its location daily via Twitter. And there goes my productivity out the door.
After the jump…we get nostalgic about lunch and cartoons, and the latest news about successful people recognizing the accomplishments of other successful people.
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The latest and greatest news about celebrity chefs, served up buffet style.
– The Beards were announced. Big winner is Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio. Lots of happiness in the TVFF household when the chef at Philly’s Osteria won for Mid-Atlantic.
– And the full run-down of Beard media award winners. I’m sure ours is coming next year.
After the jump…we take a trip down to the mouth of The Mighty Mississip and we ponder if it’s actually “news” that Duff Goldman is in the paper for baking a cake.
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The latest and greatest news about celebrity chefs, served up buffet style.
– Tyler Florence is one handsome bastard.
– Oh, and Sam Talbot, too.
After the jump…yet another fine looking fellow, sesame (chicken) street and “balls” and “Giada” in the same sentence!
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