Concerning Me on Food Network Star
If you’re a regular reader of Variety, you may have noticed a short piece last week concerning this year’s iteration of Food Network Star which is going to be a little different from seasons past. Instead of judging, Giada De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay will mentor groups of finalists through the competition…and so will I.
That’s right, I’ll be entrusted with the care and feeding of 5 individuals hand picked from hundreds of hopeful applicants by yours truly.
Okay, dozens.
How, you may ask did this come to pass? After all, I’ve never appeared in more than one or two eps a year each marked by a subtle snarkliness* that betrayed a certain sense of sullen superiority on my part. On more than one occasion I intimated to the network powers that I felt those chosen for the competition were less than stellar stuff.
And so they kinda called me out.
As in: how would I like to be a mentor this season, able to pick and guide my own team, thus investing in my own peculiar form of culinary justice? If…if one of my team were to be the last man standing I would be called upon to produce their (no doubt hit) show.
In other words, put up or shut up.
And so, I have chosen my team, and each and every one of them is a food anti-hero in the making…a dark star, utterly unlikely and therefore pretty much perfect.
Wish us luck.
AB out.
*Excuse the neoterism.
My official spice of 2012: Sumac
A few words on the subject of Sumac,
A botanical cousin to North America’s toxic “poison” sumac (Rhus vernix), Rhus coriaria is a shrub that grows around the Mediterranean/Middle East and in the process generates small red fruits (berries) which have long been ground into a spice used both in cooking and as a table condiment in that region. Often referred to as a “souring” spice, sumac was used as an acidic ingredient in classical Arab dishes back in the days before lemons had migrated into the area. Astringent, sour, smokey, and earthy at the same time, sumac is a very complex spice indeed. Although most American cooks encounter it sprinkled over hummus at middle eastern restaurants, it’s also a key ingredient in za’atar, a traditional flavoring mixture which also typically contains marjoram, oregano, and thyme, as well as salt and sometimes sesame seeds.
I’ve slowly introduced sumac into a wide range of applications including potato salad (zippy), olive oil (for bread dipping) and just about anywhere paprika might be welcomed. Oh, and I never, ever make hummus without it…ever. Although sumac is occasionally available in megamarts (WF) The spice house (www.spicehouse.com) is my preferred source.
Other applications:
scrambled eggs
pickles
pilaf
By the way: do not attempt to harvest your own!!! Poison sumac, the standard issue in the US, is never, ever good eats.
My browser history as of 1746UTC
http://bit.ly/za8SfR
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/homemade_buttermilk_ranch_dressing/
http://quotations.amk.ca/doctor-who/
http://foodnetworkhumor.com/2012/01/the-big-waste/#more-8876
http://www.beefinnovationsgroup.com/CMDocs/BIG/BeefSierraCut.pdf
http://huff.to/tBW5pA
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/bacon-potato-salad-10000001079910/print/
http://www.hhmi.org/bulletin/nov2011/features/
http://www.thespicehouse.com/spices/powdered-sumac
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/01/looking-ahead-2012-food-politics/250766/
Release Day
Good Eats 3: The Later Years hits store shelves today and all I can say is it’s certainly the best of the three volumes. For one thing, the shows were better…and I think we finally got the swing of the whole show to book format. As always, each and every application (recipe if you must) has been completely rebuilt from the ground up, re-mastered if you will, to insure that the eats you put on your table are as good as what we put on the page.
Of course, where there’s new ink, there must be a tour and I will be heading to NYC in a couple of days to perform at the New York Food&Wine Festival and to sign the book at Barnes & Noble Union Square on Friday night. And then there will be the early morning shows, GMA on Thursday morning and Regis & Kelly on Monday…I think. Then we head off into America.
See you then.
A
Attention Penn State!
Dear Penn State Students, Faculty, Etc,
As some of you may know, I’ll be giving a nice, boring little lecture at your fine institution next week. I’ll be accepting questions via email at: AskAltonPennState@gmail.com up through showtime and will answer the best of the best during the show. So if you’re too darned bashful to stand up in front of thousands (okay probably dozens) of people to ask something embarrassing, here’s your chance.
End transmission
a