Cartoon recipe for creamy corn chowder. Yum! It's always neat to see alternative representations of recipes.

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Battle bloody sleeve

Yesterday I had the opportunity to spend a little time in the kitchen of Daniel Boulud's eponymous New York restaurant, Daniel. I got to make chicken wings with the man himself for a video a friend is producing. Stupidly, I chose not to wear whites, and thought street clothes would make the bit more "authentic" for the home cook. So I was standing there in a gray cashmere sweater and jeans (I did wear my clogs at least) with an apron tied around my waist. Daniel was demonstrating how to prep the wings, which involved sectioning the wing into three parts. WHACK! He came down hard with his chef's knife on the joint, and blood went flying. Flying right onto the sleeve of my sweater! Daniel was very gracious and tried to wipe it off with a dish towel, but that only smeared it around. We had a good laugh about it and my sweater is now at the cleaners. But I've learned my lesson (a lesson, incidentally, I'd already learned but chose to ignore) and next time, I'll be wearing whites. And standing clear of Daniel Boulud when he's wielding his knife and whacking at wings.

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Gourmet's editors are now blogging about things like vegemite and onions. I like the idea of using a mix of people. But so far, with only one post a day, it's been hard to get a sense of the site's personality. Still, I'll be checking in. I'm always happy to have more food blogs to read.

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Making apple butter

I made Erin's apple butter before I went to Maine, but only had a chance to test my work the other night. (Inspired by a dish at Boston's Locke-Ober restaurant, I roasted and mashed a winter squash, then mixed it with some apple butter. They also add Calvados.) Mmm, this apple butter is delicious! I followed Erin's recipe closely, except when she called for a "fine mesh strainer." At first I tried my chinois, but that was actually too fine, and only the faintest apple juice emerged. I resorted to my less fine mesh strainer and that did the trick. I used a blend of locally-grown Jonamac and Empire apples, and I like to think that added depth to my butter. I can't wait try some of this on a sandwich. Great recipe, thanks Erin!

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There's something that I call 'chicken guilt,' which is something that has chefs in restaurants making the chicken dish one of the best dishes on the menu because they feel guilty selling a chicken for $28. I've never heard of 'chicken guilt' before, but I love it! Of course, I never order chicken when I'm out because I think, "How good can that chicken be, even if it's $28?"

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70 Steps To Foie Gras Torchon. Adam over at the Amateur Gourmet and I are in a bit of a foie gras "contest" to see who makes the best torchon of foie gras (from Thomas Keller's The French Laundry Cookbook). I'm still at step 23. But somehow I know I'll win!

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Four microphones, a table, and 90 minutes of dead air I’m in charge of filling. Michael Ruhlman reports on his sold-out talk (that I missed because of sickness) last week at the 92nd St Y.

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Brussels sprouts have arrived at my local farmer's market, which means it's time to start making my favorite Brown Buttered Brussels Sprouts. Between now and spring, I will eat these as much as possible. Brussels sprouts are totally in my top five favorite veggies list, maybe even number one!

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Amazing crawly cakes for Halloween over at Not Martha. They're made from Sno Balls, Ding Dongs, and Little Debbie cakes. Awesome!

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You are not one to sit on the cider-lines, you like to be where the action is. According to New York's Apple Country website, that's true about me because "the apple you love best says something about your personality." My love for McIntosh also means "You like to shake things up. You like people and you always enjoy a good party." I think I'd believe this more if they didn't use so many terrible apple puns. "Cider-lines"? Guh.

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A list of when produce is in season in your area. If you look at the listing for New York, you quickly see how eating local full-time is a real challenge. Here are the nearly year-round New York products: apples, cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes, winter squash, and turnips. Throw in some oysters and you're eating like it's 1775. No taxation without representation! [via Rebecca]

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A rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family's wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. Coming next summer from Pixar. Check out the trailor here.

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Common cravings in people with pica include the urge to eat soil, coal, rust, chalk and paper. A French man suffering from pica swallowed five kilograms of coins, necklaces and needles.

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Do we really need a different glass for every spirit and wine? Or is this simply another way to sell us more glasses? How the shape of the wine glass affects the taste of wine, how to chose good wine glasses, and pretty much anything else you want to know about wine glasses.

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Do's and don'ts of cooking food for your baby. I don't have a baby, but as someone who loves to cook, it seems natural that if I did, I'd make homemade baby food. Any readers out there doing this? Any tips to share?

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If you think you don’t like pumpkin pie, you are wrong: You’ve probably just never had one made with fresh pumpkin. Plus tips on how to store fall's bounty of fresh pumpkin for use all year.

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photo by Flickr user chotda

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Molecular gastronomy doesn’t exist. That’s the biggest lie out there in terms of cooking. Or so claims Ferran Adrià, who's known as the father of molecular gastronomy. I've always thought it was an odd term, but in this case I've been going with the flow.

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Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page are doing a book-signing and wine tasting tonight in Manhattan at Bottlerocket Wine & Spirit from 6-8 PM. The event is free. Bottlerocket is located at 5 West 19th Street, near Fifth Avenue.

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So unfortunately, because I've been sick, I didn't make it to Ruhlman's talk at the Y on Monday evening. :( If anyone attended and has a report, I'd love to hear it. Shoot me an email with your thoughts.

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So maybe it's time to move on and let Rachael be Rachael. If she's not for you, that's okay. Ed Levine says it's time to stop slagging Rachael Ray.

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First free gastronomic university in France is an attempt to close the gastronomic fracture that is splitting France down the middle. "Their aim is to combat the notion that la grande cuisine is reserved for the middle and upper classes, while the poor eat fatty food that induces obesity and illness." Ingredients to include cardoon and cabage.

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Watch the 'Hands of the Sun' in action: YouTube search results for Yakitate, the animated show about the baker from Japan I mentioned yesterday.

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When the salad comes out, to our disappointment, we find that the bowl is about 2/5 full. 2/5!!! What kind of unlimited salad is that? An "unlimited" salad at Olive Garden is clearly not unlimited, and other salad stories at the all-salad blog, Salad Party.

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You don’t have the tourists, the babies crying, the people who need their food cut up for them. Or why it's good to eat at one of New York City's late night restaurants, some of which are open until 4 or 5 AM. If I weren't a morning person, I'd go to a lot more of these spots!

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Yakitate!! Japan is a comic (known as manga) from Japan about "an enthusiastic, slightly gullible young baker" named Kazuma Azuma who dreams of creating great bread for his country. An Amazon review also adds, "Aiding Kazuma in his baking quest are his legendary 'Hands of the Sun,' exceptionally warm hands that speed the fermentation of yeast." Awesome. Volume 2 is coming in November. [via the November Saveur]

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I want to find out what it looks, feels, and tastes like to commit to the ultimate in dietary trade-offs: a lifetime lived as close to the brink of starvation as your body can stand, in exchange for the promise of a life span longer than any human has ever known. Julian Dibbell goes on the Calorie Restriction Diet for two months. CR may give you a longer life, but I'm not sure it's a life worth living.

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Williams-Sonoma's Halloween Truffles are various flavors of ganache coated in chocolate. "The cat pairs a dark chocolate exterior with extra bittersweet chocolate ganache, the ghost combines a white chocolate exterior with a milk chocolate-toffee ganache center, and the pumpkins unite milk chocolate ganache with orange- and green-tinted white chocolate." These would be fun to make at home if you had the time. [via Outblush]

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The FDA is set to approve milk and meat from cloned animals. You won't know if you're eating it though, the FDA's not "inclined to call for labeling of products from clones, as some have demanded. For one thing, clonal meat or milk would be impossible to authenticate, since there is no way to distinguish them from conventional products."

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Slow day for updates. I'm sick as a dog and traveling back to New York. But Jason has a write-up of Day 3 at Pop!Tech with an interesting bit about Homaro Cantu's presentation. You can see a crappy photo I took of the edible paper he handed out during his session that was half logo, half patent notice. Mmmmm....legalicious!

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Culinary trend suvery shows hydrocolloids and gums are the current tools of choice for experimental chefs. Also (of course) seasonal and local is big. Latin America looms on the horizon as the biggest new influencer. But ultimately it's the bottom line and flavor that matter.

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Here at Pop!Tech, they've got e4b at breakfast. e4b (or Easy 4 Busy) is a fruit puree packaged in a space-age pouch. You remove the screw top, squirt the puree into your mouth, and imagine you're on the first voyage to Mars. At least, that's how I felt when I had it for breakfast yesterday. Its texture is like baby food, but with 110 blueberries, 6 raspberries, 1/2 banana, and 1.5 apples (the blueberry raspberry flavor, there are others) mushed into a single pouch, it's an easy way for grown-ups to get their daily allowance of fruit. I am boldly going where no fruit eater has gone before!

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Find out the quality of your local drinking water. It's good to know what you're drinking.

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I'm not sure how to spin this to make it sound like a cooking post, so I'm not really going to try. We just heard Mexican thrash acoustic guitarists Rodrigo Y Gabriela here at Pop!Tech and it was incredible. I think it would make great music to cook by. There, that's relevant now. Highly recommended.

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Enter the Who's Your Favorite Resaurant Critic contest and you could win a dinner with Ed Levine and Jeffrey Steingarten.

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Ruhlman over at the 92nd St. Y blog on I Learned To Cook Out Of Anger. He's leading a (sold out) discussion next Monday night at the Y. I'll have a write-up after the fact for those unable to attend.

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People make over 200 food decisions a day, according to research by Dr. Brian Wansink. And that can lead to weight gain, even when you don't realize it.

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Off to PopTech!

I'm heading to Maine today for a conference called Pop!Tech. Posting might be lighter than usual through the end of the week, but I'm hopeful that I'll be filled with new ideas and insights upon my return. One of the speakers will be chef Homaro Cantu of Moto, maker of edible menus and patentor of culinary processes. Perhaps I'll get a chance to ask him about recipe copyright while I'm there.

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Ray builds her celebrity out of mixed signals, in this case, the sweet and the savory. An interesting look at the Rachael Ray phenomenon.

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I realized that even though eating at home is cheaper, the primary obstacle for most people is that cooking at home is about as familiar as Abu Dubai. A tutorial if you're not sure how to get started cooking at home.

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Two examinations of a timely topic: Is eating at home cheaper? and Is Eating Out Cheaper Than Eating In? I love cooking, so I don't want to eat out all the time (or eat out "in" with delivery), but I do wonder sometimes if the cost and effort are really worth it.

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Former FDA commissioner pleads guilty to conflict of interest. He owned stocks in the food, beverage and medical device companies he was in charge of regulating. [Thanks Augie]

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Man uses canola oil to cool his computer. Then he gets hungry, so he uses the oil to make some french fries, at the same time!

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How timely! The November/December Cook's Illustrated does some testing on kitchen shears and rates these Messermeister Take-Apart Shears as the best. I think I've found my replacement.

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Gadget: Kitchen Shears

Normally, I wouldn't think of my kitchen shears as I gadget I can't live without. But the other day I went to use them and discovered they'd broken. On the inside of each handle (right below those bottle-top-gripping teeth) was a clean crack, making them hard to use when any pressure needs to be applied to cut. Now I realize how much I actually used them. I guess I need some new ones, since I can't get by without them. Perhaps it's worthwhile to invest in a more expensive pair.

Previous gadget: Peppergun

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Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page want to see you Megnut readers at their next book signing in New York City. Thursday, October 19th, at 6:30 pm. Details can be found here.

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With regards to the induction cooktops I mentioned last week, a reader emails asking: "What about stray magnetic fields? What are the chances of those disrupting cell physiology (yours)?" I've no clue about this. Any ideas?

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You made the apple butter, now what? What do I do with apple butter?

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A Saturday spent with 10 of Spain’s most prominent culinary masters. Jason Perlow (with tons of great pictures) on the Spain's 10 event. Coolest thing from the photos: using the steamer on your espresso machine to cook something in a broth. I totally want to try that one at home!

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Review: The Sweet Life

I am often concerned when high-end restaurant chefs release cookbooks. In theory, I want to own them and recreate amazing dishes in my own home. In reality, I don't end up using many because they're too complicated for anyone less than a very ambitious home cook. So I was delighted as I read The Sweet Life, a lovely new cookbook from Kate Zuckerman, the pastry chef at New York City's Chanterelle. Here was a restaurant cookbook I could imagine using!

Some recipes are complex, but these are the kind of desserts you want to make when you have company, or to bring to a dinner party. Others are simply cookies and cakes you can bang out for fun on a Saturday afternoon. Interspersed with the recipes, Ms. Zuckerman provides a lot of educational information. Sections such as "Hint" help you understand how moisture effects items, "Beyond the Basics" explains more advanced topics such as citrus curds. There are many "Technique Tips" peppered and referenced through the book, so when a recipe calls for you to roll out the pie crust, or brown butter, you have a thorough understanding of the process. Did I also mention the in-depth focus on "Ingredients" such as vanilla beans and chocolate?

This is far more than a cookbook, it's a very instructional dessert manual. And oh, the desserts! For fall-themed cooking, I'm tempted by: "Spiced Apple and Sour Cream Cake," "Maple-Pecan Meringue Cookies," "Chestnut and Amaretti Cookie Pudding," "Pumpkin Soufflé," "Apple Cider and Caramel Ice Cream," and "Cider Caramel Sauce." Baking was always my first kitchen love, and the diversity of choices makes me want to fire up my KitchenAid right now.

One section in particular that caught my attention was the chapter devoted to soufflés. I've never made a soufflé because they always struck me as precariously complicated. Plus when I have dinner guests, I like to get everything done in advance so I can enjoy the meal with my company. Ms. Zuckerman's soufflés were developed for restaurant kitchens, which means they can be prepared before your guests arrive. Simply refrigerate for up to four hours, or even freeze them. Then when it's dessert time, pop them in the oven and you'll all enjoy soufflés in no time. I can't wait to try them out.

Few cookbooks actually get regular use in my kitchen, but "The Sweet Life" will no doubt become the go-to dessert guide whenever I want to cook up something sweet.

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Looking for sommeliers

A reporter is looking for New York City sommeliers to be profile subjects and part of a piece on the profession. He writes: "I'd love to hear from somms with any level of experience or education, or from anyone who knows any interesting somms."

If you fit the bill, please email Lawrence Marcus at lawbmarcus@gmail.com.

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Next time you're sick in bed with a stomach ache, maybe you should snuggle up with this guy. It's a stuffed microbe, about a million times the size of the actual microbe. Don't let Shigella (that's your stomach ache microbe) get you down! [via AT]

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These days, the way we farm and the way we process our food, both of which have been industrialized and centralized over the last few decades, are endangering our health. Michael Pollan on spinach, E. coli, and America's centralized food systems.

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We know where the E. coli comes from. The culprit in the recent spinach outbreak is cow manure from a farm half a mile from the spinach fields. I wonder if we'll see an increase in calls for getting beef off a corn diet. (E. coli O157:H7 thrives in the more acidic guts of corn-eating cows, not grass-eating ones.)

Update: I clarified that last sentence. It's the acidity levels in a corn-fed cow's stomach that E. coli O157:H7 love. A grass-fed cow's stomach is not conducive to E. coli O157:H7 growth. As such, it doesn't make its way into their manure and onto our food.

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Hear three real-life farmers from three very different farms talk about their struggles to stay on the land. The last week in October, in various locations around New England.

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An edible cream puff wedding dress. Incredible!

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Another great idea for all those apples? Erin's Apple Butter. This sounds delicious, I think I'll make it this weekend.

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True, he is a scientist, but eating is about pleasure. He worries about food made without love. Hervé This presents his culinary innovations to Montreal foodies.

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He was a gourmand, but he was not a snob, at least when it came to matters of food and wine. Another reflection in the Times about "Johnny" Apple, this one focuses wonderfully on meals with him. Also a great tip: to find Apple recommendations, "search Nexis using three elements: his byline, the name of a city and the phrase 'my wife, Betsey.'"

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A few miles makes a big difference in a sampling of Bay State bivalves. I am partial to East Coast oysters and the bigger and brinier, the better. I love Wellfleets. I have no interest in those oysters servers are always describing as "small and sweet with no taste of the sea." No sea? No thanks! [via Leather District Gourmet]

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Seven Delicious Ways to Eat Apples. I've been dealing with a half a peck of CSA apples each week for the past month, and was beginning to run out of ideas.

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Retail Cuts of Beef. Let the cow tell you where they come from and how to cook them.

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Short but thoughtful interview with Anthony Bourdain at the 92nd Street Y blog.

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Fruitree is a fruit display and storage system that gets fruit out of the fridge (where you'll forget it and it'll rot) and, hopefully, into your tummy. A "breathing mesh" provides air circulation for prolonged fruit storage.

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France in the grip of la folie des champignons. An 80-year-old man has his nose broken during an attack as mushroom rustlers resort to violence during the "best harvest in living memory." [Thanks Garret!]

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Do the Daisy May Pig Gig

Meg and the delicious pig, photo by Jake Dobkin

Do you love pig? Do you live in New York City, or are you willing to travel here? If yes, then you must head to Daisy May's for the Big Pig Gig. You simply need to get a group of pig-eating friends together, make an advanced reservation, and arrive at 8 PM at Daisy May's. There you will be greeted with a succulent suckling pig that's spent the last eight hours in the restaurant's pit undergoing a magical transformation.

Sure, you get mounds of tasty sides, like creamed spinach, sweet potatoes, and baked beans. And you can get a rack of lamb (we didn't) and a pork butt (we did) to accompany your pig. But the pig is so flavorful, so juicy and rich, that you may just find yourself shoving handfuls of it into your mouth, with utter disregard for your burning fingers or bursting belly. I have never tasted anything like the pig I had at Daisy May's. I'll admit to limited barbecue experience (heck, I've never even been to the South!) but I'm pretty damn sure this pig is something special. If I'm ever on death row, this would likely be my final meal. I am already planning a return trip.

Other reviews:
The New York Times: Barbecue Overdose: Half a Pig for Seven
Strongbuzz: My Dinner at Daisy May's

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The true glory of barbecue: No matter what barbecue you've eaten, someone will always tell you there's better. Bourdain (over at an ad-encrusted MSN page) explains barbecue.

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How Does an Induction Cooktop Work? "Each hob contains one or more coils made of ferromagnetic material. When an alternating current is passed through these coils, a magnetic field of the same frequency is produced."

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Mmmm, shrunken fat particles. Engineering Food at Level of Molecules over at the New York Times.

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A Bite to Eat! is the cutest little miniature fast food ever. I don't know what it is about mini stuff but it kills me. I want to make twenty of these mini burgers for lunch. And they've got a mini plastic tray even!

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Keep recipes free

This month Food & Wine columnist Pete Wells addresses patents, copyrights, and cooking in New Era of the Recipe Burglar. He begins talking about the odd experience of seeing copyright notices on food while eating at Chicago's Moto (something that bothered me as well, see An Evening at Moto). He then talks about several chefs who have stolen recipes from other chefs (including presentation, down to using the same Crate & Barrel votive-candel holders!) and passed off the dishes as their own. Clearly, such plagiarism is annoying and needs to be addressed. But the suggestions that follow from Steven Shaw, eGullet co-founder and former lawyer, in the article sound down-right frightening to me. Wells writes:

Shaw told me he hoped to convene a summit meeting with some of the smartest people in the food world to hammer out a workable model for copyrighting food. First, he’d propose changing the copyright code, possibly by making cuisine a subdivision of the existing category for sculpture or acknowledging recipes as a form of literary expression. For enforcement, Shaw leans toward creating a system like ASCAP, an association that collects composers’ royalties for public performances of songs—on the radio, in nightclubs and so on...

...Yes, Shaw agrees that the law would need to carve out a huge number of dishes in the common domain. Like Shakespeare’s plays, classics such as French onion soup would belong to everybody. But a chef who came up with a new soup could copyright it and demand a licensing fee from anybody else who served it. Shaw thinks this would spur creativity; if there’s money to be made from new kinds of soup, then more chefs will make soup. It might even lead to a split in the job market between thinkers and doers.

I don't even know where to begin. The idea that a change to copyright law would spur chefs to new levels of creativity seems spurious to me. The lack of money to be made from soup is not due to a dearth of soup innovations. It's due to the cut-throat margins of the restaurant business. Do we really need to get lawyers involved in what we eat? What restaurateur needs a line item for recipe licensing fees in his already tight budget?

The current copyright law is excessive and if anything, stifles, rather than promotes, innovation. (Current law grants copyright to an author for the term of her life plus seventy years. If I were to live to 100, what you're reading right now wouldn't enter the public domain until 2142!) You can look all around the creative world, from Disney to the recent troubles with the civil rights documentary Eyes on the Prize, for examples of how copyright has been perverted from the original intent to offer a limited set of protections to "promote the progress of science and useful arts."

So why would we want to bring that burden into the world of cuisine? Heck, the idea of copyrighting a recipe assumes one can actually create an original recipe! But aren't all recipes derivative works? How can I possibly come up with a unique cookie recipe that isn't based on more than a hundred years of cookie recipes using flour, eggs, a leavening agent, a fat, and a sweetener?

The culinary world at its best is a world of craft and art. A fine meal is a performance, not a soulless assemblage of ingredients. I feel good when I eat Grant Achatz's "Hot Potato" at Alinea. I don't want to eat "Hot Potato™ by Grant Achatz" rotely created at some food counter in the airport. Clearly there are issues with how chefs get rewarded for their creativity and effort, and I would love to see the best get the recognition they deserve. But bringing the lawyers in? I don't see how that benefits chefs in the long run, or diners, or amateur cooks. In the end, I suspect the ultimate beneficiaries would be the same people who always win. As we get ensnared in the webbing of our increasingly-complex legal system, the ones who always make the most money are the lawyers.

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Salon's favorite food writers relive their worst meals. And thus launches "Eat & Drink," a new series that will run in the Life section of Salon every Tuesday. There's an essay by Michael Ruhlman about a Riesling-and-foam overload in '99. [Thanks Ian]

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NYC or SF? Both cities are on par in terms of the level of gastronomy, says Michelin Guides director Jean-Luc Naret.

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Congrats to Ben and Lock! Food &Wine has recognized them in a list of 15 spectacular talents who have changed the world of food and wine by age 35. "Year-old Eater (eater.com) has become required reading for anyone who follows New York City’s frenetic restaurant scene."

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Possible E. coli in lettuce now, and Accidental Hedonist reports Monterey County has been irrigating 12,000 acres of edible food crops with "tertiary treated sewage effluent water" since at least 1998. AH has done a great job with links and information about the E. coli outbreaks.

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That mysterious, feared affliction known as the freshman 15 is entirely misunderstood. "[T]he most obvious problem with collegiate calorie counting, that studying Kierkegaard or Conrad after a dinner of seitan and soy chips would render even robust stomachs seasick, sometimes outright ill."

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Who Has the Best Croissants in NYC? You'll have to click on the link to find out.

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photo by Anil Dash

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Speaking of food TV, apparently there's an HD show called After Hours with Daniel. Chef Daniel Boulud and his buddies hit top spots in New York City such as Blue Ribbon Sushi, BLT Prime and WD-50. This week they visit Aquavit. I haven't seen it yet but my husband caught it last night and said it was pretty good. Chowhound's got some information about it.

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Thoughts on Diary of a Foodie

I caught the first episode ("One Billion Foodies") of Diary of a Foodie yesterday on PBS and found it to be both good and bad at the same time. I'm not sure how that's possible, but that was my reaction. The bad: The show tried way too hard to be hip and cool. The camera work was annoying. All the shots of faces were so tight either the face didn't fit in the frame, or off center, so you saw half a face. And they kept framing an object (a branch, a vegetable) and changing the focus from the foreground to the background, over and over. At the end of the program, Ruth Reichl introduced some common sauces in Chinese cooking and the saturation was out of control. And they must have used the word "foodie" a billion times. If the show had been longer than half an hour, my eyes and ears may have started to bleed.

On the plus side, the people they visited in China (a rural doctor outside of Beijing, a traditional dumpling maker, a Peking duck specialist in Beijing, and a "New Shanghainese" chef in Shanghai) were really interesting. I loved the shots of a woman cooking an entire meal in a wood-fired wok in the countryside, as people have done for eons in China. And it was great to watch the prep work that goes into making the Peking duck. During the scene about dumpling-making, there was a great, unforced banter between the visitors making their first dumplings (badly) and those that create hundreds of them a day. For me, the best parts of the show happened when they just let the camera roll on people making food in China.

I plan to watch the next few episodes, but I'm not convinced (yet) this is a must-watch program for me. Did you watch it? What did you think? Maybe I'm being too harsh...

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The weekend's looming, you've got no plans. What to do? Make your own gummy worms.

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Ruhlman on his own

When Michael Ruhlman finished up his blogging stint here in July, I was sad to see him go. It was great fun to have the opportunity to read frequent musings from one of my favorite food writers. But all along, my secret plan had been to get him addicted to the immediacy of blogging so he'd launch his own site. [Insert evil "mwah ha ha" laugh here.] Now I can announce I've succeeded: Ruhlman's very own blog is live! Yay!

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Shacktoberfest begins today at the Shake Shack and runs through October 15th. The Shack will be serving special wursts, beers, and concretes. You know I'll be there at least once!

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Dethorner, the perfect guide for the imperfect man, has been covering food all week. I've already linked to some stuff over there, but really you should check it all out. Lots of neat links, even if you're perfect or not a man.

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The weakness exposed here is the weakness of a highly centralized food distribution system. Interview with Michael Pollan about the spinach E. coli 0157:H7 outbreak, organic fertilizer, and the risks of our food system. [via The Ethicurean]

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In Defense of Food Network. "Buford can moan about dumbed-down cooks like Rachael Ray and Giada De Laurentiis replacing more traditional, gifted chefs on the Food Network’s programming menu or he can moan about how people don’t know how to cook anymore, but he can’t complain about both."

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Thrillest has the scoop on how to pre-order your very own Jamon Iberico. They'll be available early next year, which should give you enough time to save the ~$750 an 8 lb. ham will cost you.

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Michael Ruhlman broke the news about the possible New Jersey foie gras ban on this site last week. Now, he and Bourdain discuss the situation over at Salon.

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Loving liverwurst

A close reader of this site knows that I am a liver fan. Recently at the Union Square Greenmarket, I happened upon Flying Pigs Farm. I'm not sure how I missed them before, but now they are in my weekly shopping rotation because they sell the most amazing liverwurst! "Mild seasonings mixed with equal parts of pork liver and jowl--nothing else! Traditional German recipe." Not only is it delicious, Flying Pigs Farm pigs are all rare heritage breeds, and the farm is Certified Humane Raised & Handled. That's some liverwurst you can feel good about. And your tummy will feel good about it too, as mine does nearly every day now when I have a liverwurst sandwich for lunch.

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We have come to reappreciate the egg at dinner. Suggestions for how to use the magical egg for more than breakfast.

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Did you know that far more New Yorker cartoons deal with food than with sex? An online slide show features some of the best.

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RIP Johnny Apple

New York Times writer R.W. Apple passed away yesterday. Of the myriad food writers, Mr. Apple was the one I most hoped to emulate. (His writings on South East Asia inspired much of my eating on a trip there last fall, including my ill-fated attempt to eat hairy crab.) A great joy always came through in his food articles, and he had the ability to find something wondrous and new in any experience or dish. I describe myself as a "food enthusiast" because I feel that best captures what I hope to be, always, when it comes to eating. If ever there was a food enthusiast, it was R.W. Apple. His ability to share that enthusiasm and passion will be sorely missed.

Here's an amazing New York Times page for R.W. Apple. It includes links to 1753 articles, the New Yorker profile about him, remembrances of him, and the last article he filed, right before going into the hospital, "A list of 10 restaurants abroad that would be worth boarding a plane to visit."

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What to Drink, a review

Recently, I had lunch at ssäm, a small Asianish restaurant in Manhattan that serves rice bowls and wraps. To accompany my bowl with Berkshire pork, beans, slaw, and a red kimchi puree, I had a Dr Pepper. It seemed like an odd combination, but since there were very few other beverage choices, I reasoned the Dr Pepper was offered because it complemented the food. Once I began eating, I discovered how nicely the Dr's peppery fizz complemented the richness of the pork and beans, while cutting through the heat of the kimchi. As they say in the biz: it was a good pairing.

Of course, I'm not always so lucky. There've been plenty of times when my beverage didn't work with my meal, and a few times when clearly the drink was at odds with the dish. That's why Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page's new book What to Drink with What You Eat: The Definitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea - Even Water - Based on Expert Advice from America's Best Sommeliers is a wonderful addition to my culinary library. Not only does it include chapters such as "Food and Beverage Pairing 101" and "Selecting and Serving Beverages," it also includes wonderful lists of ingredients (beef tacos, Kit Kat candy bar) and the drinks that can accompany them (Syrah, African tea).

Dornenburg and Page have also filled their book with tons of expert advice from wine directors, sommeliers, and restaurateurs, and included sample tasting menus (with their wine accompaniments) from some of America's best restaurants. The book is so packed with information, it will take a while to digest it all. But that's good, because this is a book you'll actually use as a reference over and over again, whether you have a wine you're not sure how to pair, or whether you've got an ingredient and need a beverage partner. Or maybe it's just a season, "Winter" and you want something new to drink. In that case, barley wine, Burgundy, and hot buttered rum are all recommended.

As great as its information is, what really recommends "What to Drink" is its tone. We all have an image of an obnoxious sommelier or server who huffs when one member of the party wants beer, and the others insist on red wine with fish. But Dornenburg and Page don't scoff at such pairings. They avoid the snootiness often associated with wine. They don't fill their book with rules, only thoughtful suggestions. On page 22, they write:

The success of any pairing is measured by what happens when a sip of the beverage you're drinking interacts on your palate with the bite of food you've just eaten. When those sensations are jarring or otherwise unpleasant, you've stumbled upon a bad pairing. When those sensations are mildly or even wildly positive, you've got yourself a good match.

Ah yes, like my pork bowl and Dr Pepper! I couldn't find a listing for Dr Pepper in "What to Drink," but I did get a chance at the end of my meal to talk to ssäm chef and owner David Chang about the pairing. Turns out he and his chefs just like Dr Pepper, so they decided to stock it. The grand pork/Pepper pairing plan I'd suspected didn't exist. Which goes to show you can plan your drinks and your food all you want, but a little serendipity can still be good. I imagine Dornenburg and Page would agree.

Feel free to share your favorite food/beverage pairings in the comments.

Note: this entry is part of a Virtual Book Tour for "What to Drink with What you Eat." For more information, please visit the Virtual Book Tour schedule.

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The incongruity of serving fair-trade products in elitist establishments. Do the growers really benefit?

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Decodan specializes in reconditioned, vintage small appliances. Great photos of old Kitchen Aids and other neat mixers. [via dethroner]

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If I buy a tomato it’s probably genetically modified and covered in residual pesticides. Over thinking one's tomato purchase can lead to tomato purchase paralysis.

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eGullet founder Jason Perlow had a lovely birthday dinner (with photos) at Eleven Madison Park recently. I keep hearing such good things, but my visit to Eleven Madison Park last May didn't really impress me. Perhaps a return is in order?

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Frytastic Apples

On Saturday night, I went to a party where everyone invited was required to bring one thing: something to fry. The host had a commercial deep-fat fryer in his kitchen. (Aside: you know you're getting old when a fun night is playing with a commercial fryer.) During the course of the evening we had homemade french fries, onion rings, fried fish, fried scallops, fried "Boris balls" (quail egg wrapped in banger sausage, battered), fried Twinkies, fried Oreos, fried chocolate, and my "healthy" contribution, fried apples.

At first I thought about bringing liver, because I had some really tasty chicken fried duck livers at Cookshop recently. I planned on doing a chicken fried chicken liver. But the day got away from me, and I had a lot of apples in my fridge (and no chicken livers), so I decided to do some kind of fried apple instead. Let me tell you: fried apples RULE! I made a simple batter and enhanced it with cinnamon and sugar. I peeled, cored, and sliced the apples, as you would for a pie. The coating puffed up nicely (which I'd expected) and the apples turned wonderfully mushy (which, for some reason, I hadn't expected). Eaten in one bite, each slice was like a little apple pie in the mouth.

I was very pleased with how they turned out, and I'm going to try and make them again here at home. Without the commercial fryer, I'm not sure they'll be quite the same. But it's worth a shot. In case you're interested in giving them a go, I've posted the recipe for Fried Apples in my recipe section. Meanwhile, I really want to get a commercial deep-fat fryer of my own. Man but frying is fun!

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David Lebovitz has a great interview with Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg about their new book. I'll be writing about What To Drink With What You Eat tomorrow.

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The first chapter of The Queen of Fats is available here on the author's website. Warning: link is directly to a Microsoft Word document.

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Science writer and author Susan Allport will discuss her new book at the Museum of Natural History on October 3. The Queen of Fats: Why Omega-3s Were Removed from the Western Diet and What We Can Do to Replace Them is "a fascinating account of how we have become deficient in a nutrient that is essential for good health: the fatty acids known as omega-3s."

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We have just been dodging a bullet for the thousands of years we have luckily gotten away with these crazy death-traps called farms. Augie goes all stream-of-conscious on last week's E. coli and raw milk news and it's worth reading.

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Marathoning chefs dish up the perfect meals for race weekend. Patricia Wells, Bobby Flay, and Gordon Ramsay are all running the New York City Marathon on November 5.

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The two books mentioned in the Washington Post raw milk article. Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon and Cattle: An Informal Social History by Laurie Winn Carlson.

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Raw milk advocates are fighting against what is considered perhaps the greatest advance in food safety in the last 100 years. A positive look at raw milk from the Washington Post Magazine. Thanks Augie!

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Amazon sells restaurant gift certificates. Simply print an email and head out the door to eat.

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Flickr photo uploaded by dlanod

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The Onion has a food section in its print editions. No sign of it online that I could see. I'm going to pick up a copy today and investigate this.

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The website for Gourmet's Diary of a FoodieTV show is more fleshed out now, which leads me to believe that it will be airing soon, but when? Where? For some idiotic reason, the site doesn't say when the show will be on! It tells you all about the upcoming four episodes, and offers synopses and recipes, but no channel or airing info.

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