Food TV Network

Thursday, August 28, 2008

It's Sunday morning and I am sitting in the big comfy chair at my daughter’s listening to her chop vegetables as I write this Blog. I am watching the marathon of cooking shows that come on every Sunday morning instead of attending my favorite place of worship. Today I needed to write, and relieve my mind of the stresses that filled my head with a fog of disdain.

Food TV Network has been on for 15 years and the transitions have been truly amazing. It started with just a few celebrity chefs and grew to include a colossal number of cooks who could entertain. If you pay attention to the new cooks on Food Television Network you will see that they do not have the cooking experience, knowledge and finesse of people who actually cook everyday. Chefs cook for a living, but real, down-home cooks cook for their family everyday; it’s not about money, pride or prestige, it’s about love and life.

A down home cook, a cook dedicated to cooking from the heart fills each dish, each pot or pie with their own secret touch. Cooking for a good old fashioned cook is about preparing the tastiest most flavorful food for the folks around the table. If I can just offer Food TV Network a word of wisdom after over thirty years in the kitchen; educate your new celebrity cooks first, and don’t toss them out in front of the wolves, saying god knows what. For example, one young cook said "you can use parchment and wax paper interchangeably;" not true. If a cook were to follow that piece of advice they might burn their kitchen down.

Today, there are very few programs on Food TV Network or any other network that I enjoy. I still check out the new stuff, just to see if there is anyone really doing down home authentic cooking; and there are a few. Ina Garten, Nigella, Oliver, and Tyler. I thought the new guy Aaron McCargo, Jr. of Big Daddy's House would offer something a bit different, until he attempted to make a sweet potato pie. The pie was lumpy and just not what I expected. Oh, let me stop, I sound so critical, and I don't mean to be. I guess I just would like to see simple food and regular folks, not necessarily trying to make to laugh, just showing me the ropes and some new techniques. Onward and upward, until that date comes I will continue to watch the "foodie" shows and skip through the channels to view the new folks. And maybe at some point Food TV Network will come up with some new ideas like those created by SFA (Southern Foodways Alliance.)

Lemon Curd - A Matter of Taste

Monday, August 25, 2008

Last weekend I was invited to afternoon tea at the Washington Duke Inn on Duke University's campus. This was the weekend students were returning to school for more academics and college time fun. Let there be no mistake college is not all about the books!

If you have never been to the Duke University Campus, you are in for a huge surprise. It is nestled in Durham, North Carolina and the Gothic architecture is amazing. Every since I moved to North Carolina I have been taken back by the abundance of trees and the picture perfect landscaping that is characteristic throughout the state. As we enter the gate leading to the Washington Duke Inn there is little doubt that this would be a memorable occasion.

Much to my surprise there were only two tables occupied with Tea time guest. The dining room was stately, the wait staff attentive and gracious and the intimate setting perfect for an afternoon with friends or a romantic soirée with Price Charming. Please note, do not come here if you need a full course meal, this is tea. The staff served finger sandwiches, the traditional, cucumber, tuna, chicken, pimiento and that southern favorite of all finger foods, deviled eggs. There were small cakes, truffles and miniature fruit tarts. The "Pièce de résistance" was the scones. They were absolutely perfect; not dry, moist in the center, crisp all around, just divine. There were two flavors, walnut and cranberry. The scones were served with three spreads; crème fraîche, lemon curd and strawberry preserves. Hence the title of this Blog "Lemon Curd - A Matter of Taste."

I am old school; I can remember the lemon chess pie, the lemon meringue pie, lemon tarts, lemon bars, lemon sugar cookies and lemon curd. Perhaps lemons are not popular today because they are a bit expensive or because we just stop preparing foods that use lemon as the star of the show.

The lemon curd served at the Washington Duke Inn was superb. Smooth, tart and refreshing. I started to feel sad because no one would ever experience this wonderful moment unless they came here for tea. No one would partake of this heavenly lemon curd unless they were nibbling on these magnificent scones. Then I began to realize that lemons are a dying breed and perhaps this is the way of the world. In the next few years perhaps lemons will make a comeback and become the reigning queen of the flavor palate. Nope, I don't think so either.

The next time you are wondering through Durham, North Carolina and it's around 1 p.m. or so, mosey on over to the Washington Duke Inn for tea and try the lemon curd with your scones, you know the old sayin' "try it you'll like it," I promise.

p.s. the Organic Blackberry tea was fantastic too!

Say It's Not So Mrs. Fields...

Monday, August 18, 2008

The Queen of Cookies, Mrs. Fields has filed Chapter 11. Recently I watched a news report that said the Mrs. Fields Cookie Company was filing bankruptcy because people were no longer shopping in malls, filling that occasional sugar rush with a Mrs. Fields' chocolate chip cookie. I was sad to hear about Mrs. Fields', the same way I was sad to hear about the Miami Bake Shoppe at Northland Mall, in Southfield, Michigan closing some forty plus years ago. They had the best sugar cookies on earth, or so I thought. I know I certainly don’t shop the malls like I use to, not only because of tough economic times, but also because the malls do not have the variety they had of yesteryear. Maybe it’s me but the clothes hanging on the racks are wrinkled, and the styles are just shabby; and I don’t mean shabby chic either. I now shop on the Internet or by mail order since there really is more variety and the cost is most affordable.

It does not surprise me that Mrs. Fields went under with rising cost for flour, sugar and the like. I can only predict that other small food franchises will follow suit. People are starting to take notice of their waste lines and although fast food chains may not be feeling the pinch, there is no doubt in my mind they are feeling a bit of a sting. When you begin to get coupons from Starbucks to come back later in the day and get a Frapp or Latte for two bucks, you know something's up. I don’t know about you but I have steadily watched food prices creep higher and higher and observed folks in the grocery purchasing more hamburger, pasta and prepared foods from the deli. What does this mean? When folks cook for themselves they cook “cheap” and when they ask someone else to cook for them, their willing to pay more for what they conceive to be better-tastier, dare I say healthier food.

Recently my daughter’s best friend visited and informed me that the people in her city, Atlanta just don’t cook. Everyone eats out or purchases prepared foods. I then saw a news story on a company in Atlanta no less, called Fresh and Fit. The company prepares homemade food for busy people who do not have time to cook. This is a wonderful idea, but the cost starts at $18.00 per person and I don’t know about you, but I rarely spend $18.00 per person for a homemade meal.

So what are we to do about our need for healthy, affordable food?

Well, I don’t have any life shattering ideas or suggestions. What I know to do is the same thing our forefathers did, get back in the kitchen and cook.

No, it’s not rock science, it basic cooking 101. I remember all those women who cooked for a living. You know the one’s that you saw catching the bus in urban areas over fifty years ago. Today they're gallantly called personal chefs, but years past they were good old fashioned cooks. Nonetheless, times have changed and few can afford to have a personal cook/chef come to their home and prepare meals.

I suppose we could start a community cooking club and feed everyone in the cul-da-sac for a modest contribution, or start home-based bakeries that provide families in communities with fresh, healthy, affordable baked goods, or perhaps we could just go back to diner days, when little homespun restaurants served tasty, not so healthy foods fashioning the culture living in the neighborhood.

Look, all I know is something has to give. At some point people are going to realize that it is not someone else who must figure out how to feed their family reasonably priced food. I am a little old fashioned cook in North Carolina trying to provide people with options. I have been on this earth over a half century and there is nothing better than getting back to the basics and starting from scratch. If you know of something better please email me and I will gleefully try your recommendation. Until then I will keep writing my little cookbooks for those good old fashioned cooks, who want pure and simple down home food. Look, for some of us a salad is still lettuce, tomato, a bit of grated carrot, thinly sliced red onion, croutons and salad dressing, e.g.vinegar and oil. Simple, right?

Thank you Chef Paul Prudhomme

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

I have been cooking and baking now for more than twenty five years (dare I say thirty) and although I can say that my mom, grandmothers, grandfathers, friends of my moms and others have been most influential in my culinary journey; there is a man who really helped me see the light when it came to putting dynamic flavor in food. I know this Blog will probably never be read by Chef Prudhomme it is good enough for me to put it out in the universe for God to see. I was first introduced to Chef through his first book titled Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen. I prepared at least seventy-five percent of all the recipes in his books and all were not only reliable but absolutely delicious. I have followed his career being there through the passing of his beloved Kay and as he weaned and leaned his culinary talents. Through it all the favor of the food did not suffer and I respected that enormously.

I know there are people who see his name and think “oh yeah, that Cajun Chef,” but Chef Paul is so much more. He really brought about the need and appreciation for flavor to American food. It is not about cayenne pepper, it is not about spicy food; great Louisiana cooking is about the blending of flavors, the slow cooking and braising that makes food not just good but great.

There was one particular meal I would prepare for my father who lived at 1300 Lafayette in Detroit years ago. We would shop for all the ingredients and then I would go back with my little daughter in tow and prepare dinner for him. The meal was straight from Chef Paul’s cookbook. It was the Seafood Stuffed Whole Fish, with carrots, zucchini and yellow squash. I always served hot butter rolls and a light dessert lemon mousse or his favorite Maple Butter Cake, a simple butter cake with a seven minute maple syrup frosting. He never wanted anything different, the same menu each time I would visit. I have to say the seafood stuffing was spectacular and with the Shrimp Butter Cream Sauce. Yes, the food was rich, but it was not consumed often, usually once a month.

Chef Paul, I would say as I cooked, you are truly a culinary genius. I do not know of many Chefs today who put that much thought into their recipes. It is clear that the man knew exactly how he wanted the food to taste and strived to give the best flavor and texture possible. Today I use his natural syrups to sweeten foods and I enjoy all of his lean recipes. I too no longer cook like I use to, but don’t think I can’t when called upon to do so. I hope to make Chef Paul’s Turducken® this Thanksgiving and serve it to a whole new generation of people who don’t have a clue. I have made it several times in my lifetime and his recipe reins supreme. Last year I saw a Turducken® in a box and my daughter and I both had to laugh out loud and shuddered to think what was inside the box.

Let me end by saying thank you Chef Paul Prudhomme for changing the way I cook, the way I eat and the way I create recipes. It is not about just about the food, but the flavor, texture and technique. You are America’s real Iron Chef.

* Many years ago I met Chef Prudhomme in the parking lot of the Riverwalk while visiting New Orleans, he had just had lunch at Mulate’s. I asked him if he had any advice for a budding chef and he said “yes, try to figure out a way to keep your money.” In other words, irregardless of how much you make it really does disappear like snow in a furnace. Interesting!