Just this morning I was listening to a little Simon and Garfunkel. (The Scarborough Faire Canticle, to be precise.) how was I to know that someone at the Burger King Markting Department had been thinking about Paul and Art as well.  I just saw these commercials for the first time today, and I’ve got to tell you, I think it’s pretty bad when you’ve got to pick on what was probably the greatest folk duo ever just to try to get sales for a crappy burger made with sub-standard ingredients. (Can anyone say “Sell to the older folks, cuz they have more money?”)

Anyway, if you’re a Simon and Garfunkel fan, you might not want to go any further.  Unless of course you want a good chuckle in the process…

And here’s another, just as bad…

Now that I’ve posted these, (And I’m not really sure I know why I did, mind you) I’m off to get some more serious work done, while listening to the real S&G. The 59th Street Bridge Song sounds good… here, let me share it with you all as well…

OK, that’s all for me.  Time to get serious again.

*Trots off hummin’ “Feelin’ Grooooooovy…”*

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The weather in our part of the world finally got chilly.  The moment that happened I had a definite urge to slow cook something for a very, very long time. Luckily i had just picked up a pork butt roast at the store a few days before.  Originally I’d planned on grilling and smoking, but with the mercury in the 40′s the roast suddenly had a new direction in life. the only question was exactly how I was going to braise it.

The answer came more from a need to get going than it did from planning.  There on the counter sat a few onions that needed to be used and a few heads of garlic that are on their way to getting woody, so those looked like prime candidates.  On the other counter sits a bottle of Sherry that’s past its prime for baking, but would still go wonderfully in a sauce.  Then there was a lonely 1/2 stick of butter and most of a box of vegetable stock in the fridge… I was good to go!

With just a little effort and a little patience we had what is very likely the best pork roast I have ever made. The pork was tender, so packed full of flavor that a little goes a very long way, and with the potatoes…  Well, let’s just say that on winter days when I don’t have a post for this blog, I’m probably making this dish again! I hope Y’all enjoy it as much as we did.

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We continue on today with our Halloween series and yes, I’ve come up with another use for cookie cutters. This is a variation on a “toad in the hole” (Also called a Camel’s Eye, Egyptian Eye, Bird in a Nest and a slew of other things. Not to be confused with the British “Toad in a Hole”, which is a batter cooked sausage and equally yummy.   Know of another name for this dish, a comment.) I’m calling “Ghosts in a hole”.  This dish is basically an egg cooked inside a slice of toast.  In this case it’s cooked in the cutout shape of a wee little ghostie who has wandered onto your breakfast or brunch table.

My thought on this was that it would be fun for the kids.  How neat would it be to have a Halloween themed breakfast, especially on the morning of the big event?  For parents, this is one of the simplest things in the world to make, so you won’t have to be rushing to do something complicated on the same day you’re still trying to keep the young ones on track (or distracted, if Halloween doesn’t fall on a school day for you.)

Either way, it’s a fun little way to start the day.  I hope you enjoy.

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I’ve been planning on unleashing some serious ranting on at least a few topics, but the week has been hectic at best.  In the interim, I have a wonderful suggestion for any of you who would like to know the finer points of food snobbery. The Food Snob’s Dictionary: An Essential Lexicon of Gastronomical Knowledge isjust the tool you need to help jump start your career as a  food snob.  It’s packed with all those tiny tidbits of knowledge that you’ll need to truly impress and bore the company you keep at dinner parties and buffets.

You really shouldn’t pass up this opportunity to help me out with my Christmas Spending get your hands on a tome of knowledge like this one. It is truly a lexicon of utterly useless and completely boorish useful and interesting information that your friends will want to rip your tongue out and serve it with fava beans love you for sharing with them. You’ll definitely be the one everybody is talking about!

The official Amazon Description:

Product Description
Food Snob n: reference term for the sort of food obsessive for whom the actual joy of eating and cooking is but a side dish to the accumulation of arcane knowledge about these subjects

From the author of The United States of Arugula–and coauthor of The Film Snob’s Dictionary and The Rock Snob’s Dictionary–a delectable compendium of food facts, terminology, and famous names that gives ordinary folk the wherewithal to take down the Food Snobs–or join their zealous ranks.

Open a menu and there they are, those confusing references to “grass-fed” beef, “farmstead” blue cheese, and “dry-farmed” fruits. It doesn’t help that your dinner companions have moved on to such heady topics as the future of the organic movement, or the seminal culinary contributions of Elizabeth Drew and Fernand Point. David Kamp, who demystified the worlds of rock and film for grateful readers, explains it all and more, in The Food Snobs Dictionary.

Both entertaining and authentically informative, The Food Snob’s Dictionary travels through the alphabet explaining the buzz-terms that fuel the food-obsessed, from “Affinage” to “Zest,” with stops along the way for “Cardoons,” “Fennel Pollen,” and “Sous-Vide,” all served up with a huge and welcome dollop of wit.

About the Author

DAVID KAMP is a writer and editor for Vanity Fair and GQ, and the author of The United States of Arugula, The Film Snob’s Dictionary, and The Rock Snob’s Dictionary. He lives in New York City. MARION ROSENFELD, a writer and producer, has spent her entire career in media, much of it food related. She lives in New York City. ROSS MacDONALD’s illustrations have appeared in many magazines, from The New Yorker to The Wall Street Journal. He illustrated The Film Snob’s Dictionary and The Rock Snob’s Dictionary.

So rush out and grab yourself a copy of The Food Snob’s Dictionary: An Essential Lexicon of Gastronomical Knowledge, you’ll be glad you did!

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The good people over at delicioso.com wanted me to let you know not to miss Ingrid Hoffmann Live on the Today Show Tomorrow, October 22nd 2008.  I know I’ve got quite a few Ingrid Fans, and I’ll keep all of you posted as news comes in.  she’s a dynamic personality who’s climbing the ladder quickly in the celebrity cooking world.  I know if I ever get to Miami, I’m gonna hit her restaurants for sure!

Just for the record, you should definitely go and visit delicioso.com and check out what’s happening there.  The folks at The Borooks Group, the PR firm that handle Cat Cora, Ingrid Hoffmann and a slew of other Celebs are nice enough to shoot me these briefs for you.  I’m not getting paid for this news flash peeps, it’s all about you guys, and enough of you have commented and emailed me about Ingrid that I feel absolutely bound to give you the news as I get it.

And hey, if you’d like for me to keep up with news from any of their other clients, I’d be happy to ask them to keep me in the loop as well, it’s the least I can do for you.

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Or  for the adults, Blackened Chicken with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

The Halloween fun continues.  This one is actually an original, because I completely screwed up trying to make something completely different.  Still I have to say that I can’t complain at all.  Tell a bunch of kids that they’re eating Burned Monster Meat with Goblin Goo and you’ll probably wish it were true.  I went through a  pound of these between one two year old and my wife in less than 20 minutes, so imagine what a room full of kids could do to them!  (Portion control, people!)

The unique texture and burned look of these is due to a heavy egg wash, which splits the breading when it expands in hot oil and heavy amounts of paprika in the breading. (The American kind, you know, flavorless, spiceless, mass produced and very cheap?) The paprika will blacken almost immediately, making for a very “straight from the burning building” look.  And with nearly neon green sauce, it’s definitely one of the less appetizing looking things I’ve ever made.

The kids should love it!

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halloween is just around the corner, and I’ve got a slew of recipes coming for that over the next few days, but that leaves us dead in the middle of the Holiday season, a topic I covered pretty thoroughly last year.  What’s a blogger to do?

“Why,” I said to myself, “I’ll ask my readers if there are things that they would like to see!”

And it sounded like a grand idea.

so, dear readers and fellow food bloggers, are there any particular recipes you’d like to see tackled?  Any recipes that feel a bit tired to you that you would like to see spiced up or given a new twist?  That’s what cooking by the seat of your pants is all about anyway, taking what you know and making something new and incredible.  It’s about the inspiration, and I could use a little of that at the moment, because just re-hashing last years posts seems a bit redundant to me at this point.

Drop a comment here and let me know what you would like to see for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I’ll be happy to dive in and give you my take on a few things!

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Halloween is almost here, and in the spirit of the season, I bring you Spooky Silhouette Chili, also known as “Fun With Cookie Cutters”.  If you’re hosting a party this Halloween or just looking for a way to keep the kids smling up until trick or treat time, you’ll definitely get a few smiles with this one.

The shapes you use are up to you.  I used a bat shaped pastry cutter to lay out a few of the good Ol’ Count’s alter-ego’s in sharp cheddar, but cats, ghosts, ghouls and anything else you can make a cutout shape of would work perfectly, and any type of cheese you like is perfectly fine. (Monterrey Jack for ghosts, Colby for owls or whatever floats your boat!)

If you like even more cheese, try doing a backwards silhouette by wrapping the cutter in foil and laying it out on the chili, then covering the rest of the bowl in shredded cheese. (You could even make jack-o-lantern shapes that way…  Fun for black bean chili!)

Method:

Cut your favorite spooky shapes out of any kind of sliced cheese.  Arrange on hot chili (any type will do.  Looking for a good chili recipe?  Try this one.) Eat piping hot and enjoy!

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I love Stir Fry.  I love it because it’s fast.  I love it because it’s simple, and I love it because it’s the easiest way I know of to use up anything you happen to have in your fridge or pantry.  You can stir fry just about anything and it’s gonna be good.  Add the right flavorings and whatever it is, it’s gonna be great.  This dish was absolutely fabulous.

Lunch needed to be quick yesterday.  All I knew was that it was going to involve two pork shoulder blade steaks I had in the fridge.  These guys were just begging to be used up before they went bad. I’m ot sure what inspired me to use this particular combination of marinade ingredients, but I’m very glad that I did.  The ork was tender, with a zing of ginger and more than enough flavor to induce a perfectly fed food coma after eating it.

The recipe easily makes enough for 4 to 6 people, especially if you pare it with a few extra sides, like pot stickers or dim sum.  Add in a bit of garlic chicken and you’d have a complete take out feast.

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The video really says it all, but if you’re reading this in your RSS reader, here’s the deal:

(Just imaging the announcer guy’s voice here.)

Starting Monday 10/20, it’s “Attack of the Vegetables Week” on Iron Chef Japan. Every night next week at 11pm on Fine Living Network, you can watch as the Iron Chefs do shocking things with vegetables you never imagined was possible…….

Thanks to the guys at FLN for shooting this info over to me.

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