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by forkitude

Cast Iron Snuggle Food

There is something about cast iron that feels like camping in the woods…sleeping bags, pine trees, camp fires, marshmallows and snuggling. These little cast iron dishes found me on a browsing trip to one of those kitchen stores in which one can lose an entire afternoon. A swift credit card swipe and I was their proud owner. My mission? Create comfort food to fill said dishes. So, here is the super delicious creation that makes you want to snuggle up to a campfire with your teddy bear or a cute man, whichever is readily available.

Artsy Photo of the Day

Halloween is over. Time for candy an adult can love.

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by forkitude

The Sound of Food: A Top 10

The professional kitchen is a noisy place. Besides constant yelling (and cursing), sizzles, crashes, bangs, flare-ups, and the occasional breakage of glassware by clumsy servers, there is the quiet sound of defeat when food gets dropped on the floor. Yikes. The drawback to an open kitchen is that you are part of the restaurant. Diners are treated to a cooking display and the vibe of a busy kitchen as they enjoy their scrumptious food and drink. But thanks to the noisy hoods that suck up the smoke and some of the sound, they shouldn’t be able to hear all of the f-bombs flying around during service. “Don’t fuck the fish!!” is one of my favorites.

With my ears still ringing from a Helmet concert plus the very unfortunate thievery of my beloved ipod this week (how am I supposed to live?), I thought I would pay a tribute to sound. So here it is ESers: The Top 10 Sounds of Food.

10. The whirl of the Robot Coupe food processor when your emulsion has set.

Nothing better than not breaking your aioli.

9. The crack of an egg.

It sounds like breakfast, one of my three favorite meals of the day.

8. The lighting of a gas burner.

Nothing quite like that whoosh sound.

7. Chopping onions.

There is something calming about the repetitive chop, chop, chop.

6. Whisking in a metal bowl.

It just sounds like you’re making something delicious.

Next: Top 5 Food Sounds

in Lists / Restaurants 0 comments

by forkitude

A.D.D. + Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Homework sucks. Call it burn-out from sixteen years of school. Call it A.D.D.

Nevertheless, I admit to munching on high-sugar kid’s cereal for something to do and wonder: we really ate this for breakfast when we were kids?? No wonder we begged for it, crying and screaming in the grocery store aisles–this shit is freakin’ candy. The cinnamon sugar is coating my fingers and my laptop keyboard.

Wendell, Bob, and Quello (WTF?), the Cinnamon Toast Crunch bakers, certainly did know how to market sugar to children. Like giving candy to a baby…literally. And how noble of them to use “less sugar” than “other kids’ cereals.” There were cereals with more sugar??

Bob and Quello were fired somewhere along the way, and Wendell has been left to grace the box alone. And now, to entice the kids during modern, less-than-stellar Saturday morning cartoonage, the crazy cinnamon sugar squares just eat each other and burp. Nice.

What was your favorite high-sugar kids’ cereal? You know, the one that made you bounce off the walls in school and then crash around 10 AM. You know, the one that was partially responsible for your A.D.D…

in Breakfast 5 comments

by forkitude

Oyster and Banana Runts Ravioli?

One of my favorite dinner games is opening the refrigerator and playing Chopped. Hey, I can pretend. I just love to play with food combinations. Of course, most of them usually taste damn yummy (to me…ahem). But every once in a while one of my bright ideas will be absolutely disgusting and inedible. Enter bologna, cream cheese, and pickle rolls. Sautéed Brussels sprouts topped with a sunny side up egg and sriracha. Bisquick + milk + bowl + microwave + grape jam + syrup + butter. A coffee mug + chocolate cake mix + peanut butter + whipping cream. Tortilla + Kraft singles + cucumbers + barbecue sauce. Soup is one of my favorite things to make, especially in the fall and winter. And following recipes, like a lot of things in my life, is just not acceptable. Why not put the cornbread IN the chili? How about jalapeño poppers in potato soup? (Turns out it doesn’t work too well.) Who would make a chocolate chip cookie stew? Um, yeah. It is a wondrous feat of nature that I don’t weigh 500 lbs.

This got me thinking — which food combination might be the most amazingly disgusting on the planet? I have a few below that would be excitingly terrible, and I would like to know yours, oh fearless ESers. C’mon, give me something really gross. If you’ve made it, great. If you’ve only dreamed of making it, it still counts. Here are mine:

Roasted Garlic Peach Crumble
Mint and Orange Egg Casserole
Cheese Whiz Lime Sorbet
Ground Beef and Mint Chip Ice Cream
Strawberry Peanut Butter Daquiri
Big Red Gum Guacamole
Black Licorice Linguini with Ketchup Mushroom Ragu
Nutella Pickle Relish
Oyster and Banana Runts Ravioli
Broccoli Sea Urchin Maple Scones
Grapefruit Junior Mints Protein Shake with Mustard Cottage Cheese Whipped Topping
Durian Fruit and Shallot Smoothie (if you haven’t tried durian fruit, please go buy one immediately)

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by forkitude

Industrial Food Complex

Editor’s Note: As you may remember, ES contributor forkitude has given up the corporate life to take the plunge into culinary school.

Part of culinary education is learning how to purchase food. Therefore, I found myself in a food Home Depot during my walking tour of the 245,000-square-foot Sysco warehouse in Lincoln, NE.

When did food distribution become so mechanized and industrial?

Sysco was started in the 1970s by several producers in order to distribute different food stuffs to buyers on the same truck. This idea has evolved into a food machine. And it felt like a machine.

We walked past boxes labeled “fresh cut vegetables.” Maybe the English language needs a new definition for the word fresh. “Still consumable” perhaps?

Culinary School Day One: Over Easy

Editor’s Note: As you may remember, ES contributor forkitude has given up the corporate life to take the plunge into culinary school. Here are her thoughts from day one.

Day number one: Culinary Foundations.

Knife skills: my fingers are valuable. It is a bloody lesson, but one I have learned. Got it. My knife skills are a work in progress.
Mirepoix: 50% onion, 25% carrots, 25% celery. The basic building block of soups, stocks, and sauces. Simple enough.
Eggs: better known as the devil. Eggs are easy to make and easy to screw up, and I have screwed up my share of eggs. Therefore, I get excited to learn the correct way to do things because screwing up is a pain in the ass. Eggs were my favorite part of the day: