This week's kitchen gadget: a very cool and somewhat gross egg separator!

Cooks can never have enough gadgets in their lives. Here's an egg-sample of a great tool that will leave you and your guests cracking up! No yolk!

Cooks Talk!

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/252846/crazy_kitchen_gadgets_that_make_great.html?cat=30

Pesto craze!

I must admit I am new to the pesto craze. Maybe that craze has passed, I don't know, but I do know that I have a basil connection this summer. I have two young entreprenuers "on staff" who are raising my crop as I write. From what I can tell the plants are growing like gangbusters, which is much faster than mine, since my seeds are still in their little package. Next year, perhaps?

Nevertheless I never thought of pesto as something green, something nutty, with a bit of oil and a lot of cheese. Maybe this year I will make some Mexican equivalent of the fabled pesto recipe. Dude up some fried tortilla strips in a sort of green chili/cilantro/queso fresco/almond sauce. All that and bit of olive oil, too, and I think I see a hit. Marinade some fish in that, or spoon it over some freshly fried rellenos. Gilding the lilly? I think not! As a matter of fact I see this as being the start of something big! Every man's got to have a jones, and next year maybe I will write about mine as well! Well, so long as it's about pesto!

Cooks Talk!

NY Times article on one woman's pesto jones:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/dining/20appe.html?hpw

Cookware deals in Seattle!

Every day I find some new reason to want to go out and secure some new kitchen tool. I really want a nice knife sharpener, and I really, truly need a flambee pan. I suppose a good crepe pan would be nice to own, too. But I know that all that wanting for small goods will lead, unfortunately, to wanting even bigger toys. A new gas range would be great, and a large commercial fridge would be nice, too. How about an industrial strength dishwasher to wash all those dirty dishes I can never seem to keep up on? And maybe a really powerful vent over the stove so my bedroom doesn't smell of French onion soup days after I make it? Man, that wish listjust goes on and on. I know in my heart of hearts that I really don't need to take a trip to a restaurant supply house, but if I do I promise I'll only come back with something useful, something I don't have, like a sous chef or maybe a wine steward. One man can only do so much! Oh so many tools and never enough time to play with them all!

Cooks Talk!

Seattle Times: NW source article on restaurant supply stores:
http://www.nwsource.com/shopping/home/home-garden/restaurant-supply-stores-serve-bargains-and-tools-trade?cmpid=2628

James Beard Award winners 2009

A quick glance at your cookbook shelves should tell you that's time to either head to Barnes and Noble or your favorite big-box bookstore to secure some of this year's James Beard winners. Or if saving money is your goal this year you might want to think about heading over to your local, friendly branch library and look up these new and exciting titles in their catalog. For instance a quick overview of the KRL catalog will show that we post the Beard winners right up there for you to see. What's really great is that can check out their availabilty and place them on hold, too. What a deal!

What's great about being in the book business is seeing these great new titles first hand as soon as they come in. It's hard not to want to take them all home, but, hey, you can only cook so many new dishes during the weekend! Plus, by leaving some on those new exciting titles on the shelves you give other folks a chance to polish up their skills and secure a few bragging rights as well!

Cooks Talk!

http://www.jamesbeard.org/files/2009_JBF_Award_Winners.pdf

BBQ and music, what a delightful combination!

I love a good music and food mix as much as the next man, but the article posted below is hollaring at me to do a road trip down to Los Angeles just to see how good that combo can be. All my life I've associated a good barbeque with affiable company, tasty sides, loud music and cold beer. The grill masters of my youth weren't always the best back in those days, for I seem to remember the weenies and the ribs both being a bit on the charred side. In fact, I wouldn't cozy up to a grilled tubesteak for many, many years because of those off-tasting childhood memories. But still. The combination of food and music is classic, and these days I can't picture a summer going by without at least one good memory maker of a wild and crazy barbeque being held in my backyard.

So, if you're down in the Southland take a trip over to Echo Park and find out about these guys for me, will ya? The joint sounds like it has a pedigree written all over it. Connections to the fabled SXSW music festival in Austin, Carolina vinegar-tinged sauces, classic sides and a vinyl record store to boot. Oh, heck, let's just say that it doesn't matter what you have to say about that place. I know right now that "one smoked pork sandwich down in Echo Park" is already written down in my itinerary! See you there!

Cooks Talk!

http://www.latimes.com/theguide/restaurants/la-et-earlybird4-2009may04,0,4555535.story

Cinco de Mayo recipe photo spread!

For all the care and attention that Rick Bayless and Diana Kennedy have brought to the art of cooking quality Mexican food at home, there are still an awful lot of folks who think Mexican food is synonymous with platter loads of red sauce and melted cheddar cheese. When it comes to good home cooked food the balance of proteins and grains and vegi's a good thing. When we go out to dine we sometimes throw that good sense by the wayside. It is one thing to go out in town to your favorite Mexican eatery and come away feeling good because you know you ate a healthy, well balanced meal, but it's another thing entirely to come home feeling bloated and listless from a meal too heavily ladden with fats, sugars and processed carbs.

Don't let Cinco de Mayo be another excuse to eat heavy Mexican chow. The revolution begins at home. Try pulling together some tasty and somewhat healthy Mexican food at home for a change.

What's lovely about the post below is that it's so colorful and engaging. Cookbooks should be, almost demand to be theseday. Of course, some of the finest cookbooks in the world come without photos, think Joy of Cooking, but some of the best being produced today come with absolutely gorgeous photospreads that almost demand, from the moment you open the front cover, that you get into the kitchen immediately and prepare a sumptous feast.

It's rare that a weekly newspaper runs a recipe article this long and this pretty, but it's really worth the bother of scrolling through all the snapshots and adding a few of those recipes to your recipe box. Cinco de Mayo is a fun holiday to be out and about in, but when it comes to eating so many of those tasty antijitos can be made at home with far more care and style than you would find in a busy eatery on the night of the big celebration. Give one or more of them a try! You'll be delighted you did, and so will your heart! Salud!

Cooks Talk!

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-cinco-de-mayo-pg,0,7548369.photogallery

"Whoa, that's a lot of pho!"

One a cold Northwest winter night nothing quite satisfies like a big bowl of pho soup. It doesn't matter too much what kind of meat is in it, for me it's the broth that counts. Not every Vietnamese restaurant does pho justice, some are better than others, but that's just what you would expect out of any eatery. I think of tacos and know that every chef prepares them just a bit differently than the next.

Same with soup. No two broths alike. Same thing applies to the requisite condiment platter. Some arrive burgeoning with basil, chopped jalepeno chillies, bean sprouts, sauces and other condiments. Some places hold back, and only bring out a wee parsiminous bowl of greens. When it comes to pho it's all about style, presentation, taste, generosity. When I sit before my bowl I'm happy to know that my chef knows that I like to pile it on. Nothing better than a steaming bowl of pho loaded with greens and dabbled with red chili sauce.

A decent Vietnamese restaurant finally arrived in Port Orchard this last year, which finally took the drive out of looking for a decent bowl of soup. But I have to admit, after reading that article posted below, I feel good just having one good restaurant to choose from. I think having a couple dozen pho joints available on one strip might be too much of a good thing.

So, if you're even thinking about opening an eatery, pho place or otherwise, do yourself a favor and read the following tale. It's a good story chronicling the plight of a hard working man who want's to serve his customers the best soup possible. I have to wonder if the story helped him out, brought up the bottom line. Now thanks to the Los Angeles Times I have more region to pencil into my Southern California eating itinerary!

Cooks Talk!

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pho-restaurants1-2009may01,0,4764790.story

Nice NY Times story on the hotsauce that's rocked the world!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/dining/20united.html?_r=1&hpw

00 Flour!

Over the course of two days I have heard mentioned and have read about the use of 00 flour in pizza and pasta making. I had never heard of it before so I went to web and found a number of sites that not only gave a nice bit of information about it, but also promoted lengthy discussions on the matter.

I suppose the only reason outside of wanting to share a bit of this information with you is that our forum here is called Cooks Talk. The internet, in all it's glory, allows for that in a very big way. It's like having a kitchen party in your computer! Isn't that grand?

Now, go make some pizza!

Cooks Talk!

00 flour forum!
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=103372

More 00 information:
http://www.fornobravo.com/brick_oven_cooking/pizza_ingredients/flour.html

00 pizza dough!
http://www.fornobravo.com/pizza/pizza_dough.html

You call it Rib-Eye, I'll call it Delmonico!

The American Beef Institute is looking to rename your favorite cuts of beef, or at the very least, mine those diamonds out the rough cuts of beef that most folks scratch their heads in wonderment about. Seems that we, as a major meat eating nation, can fire up a grill or plug in a crockpot, can cook up loads of burgers, steaks and roasts, but flounder when it comes to figuring out what to do with the rest of the beast.So leave it up to science and a million dollar study to find out what the rest of the cooking world knew about years ago: there's more than one way to slice a cow.

Your average American has a lot to learn about variety meats, about braising and stewing and such. We tend to go for marquee cuts, not only because of their tenderness but for their ease of use. If it can't be pan fried, barbequed or crockpotted, well, we just can't have anything to do with it. In order for us to get the biggest bang for our buck we need to take a different approach. Learn to slow cook, turn those less than stellar pieces of steer into tasty treats. I think of Beef Bourgenon and know that once I put that first tender slice of beef into my mouth I tend to forget that it wasn't the priciest cut in the supermarket cold case.

The more that we study, learn and appreciate third world cooks the more we find that the large, expensive cuts of meat are not the stars of the show. Meat is generally a secondary player in most of those vegetable and grain based dishes. The more we learn to love those kinds of dishes the more we can feel proud about finding out new ways of slow cooking tough cuts for hours on end. Those raggedy muscle bound steer shoulders or fatty close to the rib cuts that we've turned our noses up for so long are now becoming the carne stars of the show. And so long as they remain the preferred cuts of those who haunt the ethnic neighborhoods that most folks from the suburbs generally bypass we'll be in good shape. Once they hit the Safeway meat counters with darling new names attached to them we'll have to find something new to cook.

But for now, let's enlighten the world, why don't we!

Cooks Talk!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/dining/29beef.html?hpw

Variety meats!

Growing up in a Mexican American household I learned to value and love cheaper supermarket cuts. Pot roasts, hamburger and beef ribs may have been fairly low end choices for some families, but oxtail, stomach, pork bones, tripe and tougher cuts of lamb and pork were staples in my home.

What's funny now, or maybe more a sign of the times, is that those variety meats are now the darlings of esteemed chefs and household cooks, and those lesser cuts, dolled up and served pretty, now make the grade and the menus in many fine restarants. The only side effect of all that recognition is that the cost of those less than cool cuts are now skyrocketing. Have you priced oxtails, lately? Pricier than most cuts of beef, even if they are, when prepared properly, slowly and with care, worth every penny you pay for them.

The article posted below is sample of what's happening on the other side of the coast with supermarket and butcher shop specials. I hope that it is enlightening for you and that you can see your way to trying out one or more of the cuts mentioned. For those of us who had just a little less money in our pockets growing that article brought back fond memories of those tasty meats. Take on that brave new world of variety meat, cook up slow and enjoy!

Cooks Talk!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/dining/29super.html?_r=1&8dpc