Although there were a ton of great dishes to be sampled at the foodbuzz Food Festival in San Francisco this November, only a few dishes really stood out as exceptional.  The other dishes that stand out most in my memory aren’t the ones that were done perfectly the first time.  The dishes that always stick with me are the ones that were almost perfect. Those dishes that I find myself wondering just what tiny little detail made them less than everything they could have been.

One of those dishes was Mezzetta’s Beer Braised Flank Steak.  Sure it was good, but it wasn’t great. It had all the right flavors just not enough of them somehow to compete with the other dishes at the same event. (Don’t blame the chef… competition in that room was fierce!)

The memory of that dish has stuck with me since the festival and when I came across the recipe card in my swag-bag I decided to see if I could take the dish up by that one much needed notch.

Now I have nothing against polenta, which is what the chef originally paired this dish with, but as a good southern boy, I don’t necessarily have polenta on hand, but I always have grits, so my first change was obvious.  The second thing I didn’t want to do was to use a bunch of pre-made store bought products to make the dish, regardless of the quality, both because they’re too hard to change to my liking and because I wasn’t terribly thrilled with the first attempt.

Don’t let the seemingly large list of ingredients frighten or deter you.  Basically I just built a pasta sauce in a braising liquid and let it thicken as it went.  You’ll be amazed how quickly it all goes together and how absolutely powerful the flavors are.  It’s simply an awe-inspiring dish and one I recommend that you give a bit of time to while the weather is chill.

… [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2009. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: #fbzfest, Beef, Braised, Foodbuzz Food Festival, main course, main dish, Recipes, Winter

And finally my recap of the Foodbuzz Food Festival Farewell Brunch.  If you haven’t already seen my recap of Day 1 and visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2009. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: #fbzfest, Farewells, Foodbuzz Food Festival, Restoraunt LuLu, San Francisco

As I left Day One of the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival I was in a funk, but the gorgeous sunny San Francisco day that greeted me for day two of the event went a long way toward lifting my … [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2009. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: #fbzfest, Blog, Blog Events, Foodbuzz Food Festival, San Francisco

This weekend I had the honor of joining several hundred of my peers in food blogging at the first annual Foodbuzz Blogger Festival in lovely San Francisco, California. It was an amazing experience all the way around, far more than I can fit into … [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: #fbzfest, Blog Events, Events, Foodbuzz Food Festival, Foodies, San Francisco