Originally published on June 17, 2009.

Last time on My Summer Reading List I reviewed Ruth Reichl’s Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table, the beautiful story of a little girl in love with food who grows up to be a renowned food writer. Tender is a romantic telling of a life spent in food. Kitchen Confidential is a whole other beast.

Semi-retired chef Anthony Bourdain shocked the world with his tome on the inside workings of the restaurant industry, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. As the story goes, Kitchen Confidential blew the lid of the industry upon it’s release in 2000 by by revealing the drunken, drug-laden debauchery that exists in American professional kitchens. I question how many people were genuinely surprised by the revelations in Bourdain’s work, after all the restaurant industry employs more people than any other industry in the nation, save the Federal government, over 12 million jobs nationwide.

I believe that most of the hullabaloo was feigned. After all, of those in the media not currently employed in the Life (as Bourdain calls it) most at least used to be employed in it. To a lifer like myself the book was comfortable. It was like sitting down with an old friend over a bottle of Johnny Walker getting three sheets while reliving memories and swapping tales.

Bourdain paints a perfect picture of life in the kitchen, testosterone driven trash talking, seducing servers and drinking way too much. But what surprised me was the author’s love of food. Images sketched in words of his first raw oyster freshly plucked from the brine while only a lad to his experiences with the amazing creations of Scott Bryan, Eric Ripert and Ferran Adrià. Throughout the text I was constantly reminded of both Bourdain’s love affair with food and his sheer talent for the smithing of words.

The boy’s got chops. At the time of its publishing I don’t think Bourdain knew just how good a writer he was. The book was so explosive, so popular that it actually was made into a television series, all though it was a short lived one. Fast forward nearly a decade and Tony is no longer commanding the kitchen at Les Halles, no longer going on three-day coke benders (I hope) and no longer chasing tail. He has become what he loathed and found it’s a pretty nice gig, this celebrity chef thing.

I made sure to put Kitchen Confidential on my summer reading list because I knew how important a book it is. What I did not expect was how much I would learn from it. In fact, I have gotten a whole new reading list from it. Bourdain emphasizes how important it is for any chef to read the classics, if you will, of our profession.

In sports the greats of the game are known by just one name: Hank, Bo, and Michael. Sports fans know of whom I speak. The culinary world is no different and it is these chefs of which Bourdain speaks. Works of literature produced from chefs so revered that they are known by just one name, Escoffier and Bocuse. So thank you, Tony. Not only have you penned a great book, but you have also made my summer reading project a little longer.

Next: Heat by Bill Buford.

Originally published on June 4, 2009.

Recently I ventured over to amazon.com and purchased a box full of foodie books to read over the summer. As I complete each one I will review them here for all to see. The list is an impressive one and I have chosen to lead it off with Ruth Reichl’s 1988 opus Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table.

Others on my summer reading list include Kitchen Confidential (Anthony Bourdain), Heat (Bill Buford), The Man Who Ate Everything (Jeffery Steingarten) and The Making of a Chef (Michael Ruhlman).  I know what you are thinking, “Shouldn’t he have read those already?”  The answer is yes I should have.  You know what?  I haven’t seen Rainman or Switch Blade yet either.  I’ll get around to it.  But first, Tender at the Bone:

First published in 1988, Tender at the Bone was way ahead of the curve.  After all, the phrase foodie didn’t really even exist at the time nor the Food Network for that matter.  Bobby Flay was still in Culinary School.  Emeril LaGasse was only known for being the guy who replaced Paul Prudhomme at Commander’s Palace.

Tender is the story of a lifetime immersed in food, a coming of age tale a lifetime in the making.  When reading, one feels that Reichl is telling you her life story over a bottle of red and a plate of brie and grapes rather than leafing through an autobiography.  On more than one occasion I was left thinking, What an amazing life – she should write a book about it.  That’s how easy the prose is, it reads more like conversation.

Ruth Reichl grew up during an amazing period of strife and growth in America’s history but she was not a bystander; she was in the thick of it.  When hypocritical Northerners ridiculed the Deep South while keeping minorities at a safe distance in their own lives Reichl was color blind.  While many hippies dreamed of joining a commune, Reichl lived in one.  And through it all there was food.

Tender at the Bone is a must read for anyone who loves food and believes in the force that food can be in a person’s life.  There is a reason why Reichl sits at the head of the table of food writers with the likes of Bittman, Ruhlman, Steingarten and Burford.  The reason?  She is damned good at what she does.

Next: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.

As America continues it’s struggles with obesity more and more people are looking for healthy alternatives in their diets.  Folks are monitoring their caloric intake, their carbs and fats too.  One of the places that many are trying to “health out” is in the bakery.  As a nation we are finally learning the benefits of whole grains.

According to the good folks at the Mayo Clinic:

All types of grains are good sources of complex carbohydrates, various vitamins and minerals, and are naturally low in fat. But grains that haven’t been refined — called whole grains — are even better for you. Whole grains are better sources of fiber and other important nutrients, such as selenium, potassium and magnesium. So whenever you can, choose whole grains over refined grains.

The nation’s major bakers have responded with a plethora of healthy bread alternatives including whole grains, fewer chemicals and more organic ingredients.  Nature’s Own, Arnold’s and Nature’s Pride all are companies specializing in bread that is better for you.  Some of the larger baking companies like Wonder, Bunny and Sunbeam have tried to provide healthier if not actually healthy alternatives to their established products.

Then there’s Sara Lee.  Most have grown up thinking of Sara Lee as high quality, wholesome foods but that may not be the case.  First off, Sara Lee is not a bakery or a food service company.  To quote their own website, “At Sara Lee Corporation, our business is brands.”  Brands?  It isn’t food?  Hmm.

If memory serves, isn’t Sara Lee the only bread company, sorry brand company, to ever have to recall it’s bread because of metal shavings?  But that was just an accident and accident happen right?  It wasn’t an accident.  Accidents are unpreventable.  Mistakes, however, are born from ineptitude and that was one doozy of a mistake.

Let’s take a look at Sara Lee Heart Healthy Plus 100% Whole Wheat Bread and compare it to another popular healthy bread the 100% Whole Wheat from Nature’s Own.  According to the nutritional label on Sara Lee’s Whole Wheat each slice contains 80 calories (10 from fat), 1 gram of fat (0 grams of saturated fat but there is no listing of trans fat), 135 mg of sodium, 14 grams of total carbs (4 grams dietary fiber, 3 grams of sugar) and 4 grams of protein.

That’s not bad but compare it to the Nature’s Own 100% Whole Wheat bread which contains 50 calories (10 from fat), 1 gram of fat (0 saturated fats, 0 trans fats), 115 mg of sodium, 10 grams of total carbs (2 grams dietary fiber and 1 gram of sugar) and 4 grams of protein. That’s even better.

Still compared to normal bread the Sara Lee is pretty good right?  Maybe not.  You see for years Sara Lee bread has been made with High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and hydrogenated oils.  It seems everyday there are new findings about the ill effects of HFCS which has proven to be far worse for your body than even table sugar including increased occurrence of pancreatic cancer which leads to diabetes and heart disease.  It also wreaks havoc on the liver.

Hydrogenated oils are the very trans fats that you keep hearing about.  Trans fats, studies have shown, greatly increase your chances of heart disease and stroke by elevating the LDL (bad cholesterol) while lowering HDL (good cholesterol) .  But wait, the name of the Sara Lee bread is “Heart Healthy.”

You see nothing is healthy if it contains HFCS or hydrogenated oils.  The body simply cannot process them.  It doesn’t matter how little of each is in the food because no amount is tolerable.  Despite what the hucksters at Sweet Surprise fraudulently assert in their clever commercials, high fructose corn syrup has been proven to be more harmful to you than standard sugar.

Even Sara Lee knows this and that is why on August 16th they sent out a press release announcing their transition from HFCS to safer ingredients in their Sara Lee Soft & Smooth line.  The release said nothing about eliminating it from the Heart Healthy products.  So when you out shopping and you see those loaves of Sara Lee grab one and check to see if it’s one of the new formula breads.

However, Sara Lee has yet to say anything about eliminating hydrogenated oils from their allegedly healthy breads saying in another document that they admit that hydrogenated oils are trans fats and that trans fats are unhealthy.  The most they have committed to is trying to decrease the amount of hydrogenated oils they use.

The moral of this story is don’t trust the label on the front; scrutinize the one on the back.

After last week’s battle of the salads between Morimoto and Amanda Cohen hopefully there will be some meat on the menu in the second-to-last ICA of season 8.  With Cora doing battle this week, we once again are left wondering Where’s Jose Garces?

Chef Cora’s challenger this week is rising star chef Christopher Kostow.  Oddly enough, Kostow has a full bio on the Food Network web site, a rarity for a one time challenger.  Could there be something in the works?

Who could blame the Network for wanting to enlist Kostow after the hullabaloo surrounding the talented young chef the past few years.  A Michelin-starred chef by age 30, Chef Christopher was named to Food & Wine‘s list of Top Ten Dishes of the Year in 2007 and San Francisco Chronicle named Christopher a 2008 Rising Star Chef.  It was also in 2008 that he arrived at The Restaurant at Meadowwood in Napa Valley after a lofty and unconventional journey.

Rather than spending years shut away in some culinary school, Kostow opted to instead earn his way to chef by working at some of the most notable restaurants in the world.  He got his education old school when he left his hometown of Chicago to work for the likes of Trey Foshee and Daniel Humm.  Afterwards he did the rounds throughout France to learn the tricks of the trade in traditional French bistros.

Kostow describes his approach, “I embrace food memories — traditional combinations that work together — and then distill those flavors into something that is very much different, and very much stands on its own.”  Cat Cora has created a few food memories herself.

The judges for Battle: Oatmeal were Liliana Cavendish, Ryan D’Agostino and Nina Griscom.  There was also a Top Chef sighting as both competitors had sous chefs from that “other cooking contest” in tow, Richard Blais and Ed Cotton.

Click HERE for the outcome.

If you haven’t already please check out the interview of Cat Cora done recently by Lindsay Mott of MS Digital Daily.

…

1 Technique – Infinite Meals (1TIM) is a new series that teaches the versatility of one simple cooking technique that can be adapted to virtually every cuisine, diet or taste.  In the series I will demonstrate how to prepare a complete, healthy meal using the same technique without out ever getting bored.  Each recipe will contain at least one protein, one vegetable and a starch.

The technique?  Essentially it is stir – fry.  Or is it a sauté?  You know, it actually combines elements found in virtually every culture. The one thing that is required is a well stocked pantry especially spices and sauces.

The elements:

Protein – in the common vernacular “protein” is usually called meat.  However “meat” refers only to mammals like cow, pig and sheep.  Chicken and turkey are poultry, duck is fowl and fish is well, fish.  Since this series will be featuring all of this I will use the more formal term “protein.”

Vegetable – pretty much anything that starts life as a seed.  Sometimes I may use just one vegetable and sometimes a blend.  Most commonly I will use California Blend (broccoli, cauliflower and carrots) as it is very neutral, it lends it self to many cuisines.  You can substitute with what ever vegetables floats your boat.

Starch – perhaps I would be better off calling this “grain” but potatoes are not a grain and occasionally I will use potatoes.  More often than not I will be using rice but I will also make dishes with Udon, pasta, quinoa are any number of healthy grains.

Seasonings – This is where infinity comes into play.  In one recipe I might be using Greek spices and in the next North African.  It is good to invest in dried and fresh herbs, I suggest growing some to keep them on hand.  Sauces of all types are also good.  Now and then I will include recipes for how to make sauces from scratch but for the most part I will try to use bottled sauces and spice blends so as to keep the recipes simple for the busy family on the go.  I use a base seasoning for most foods that I blend myself with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.

Technique – though there will be variations from time-to-time here is how each recipe will unfold.  In a pot I prepare the starch according to package directions and set it aside as I prepare the rest of the meal, usually the starch will be boiled – I always add a bay leaf and salt to any starch I boil.  In a skillet I will sauté the protein seasoned with my base seasoning and/or the theme of the recipe.  At some point the protein will be removed and replaced with the vegetables.  They receive a quick sauté, just enough to heat them through but not make them soft.  Eventually everything will be united either in the skillet or on the plate.

Now applying these elements, here is how a meal could take variation.

The foundation recipe: Sauté a chicken breast.  Remove the protein and in the same pan saute California Blend veggies.  In the skillet add some precooked rice and toss until heated through.

Variations:
Tex Mex – Sauté a chicken breast seasoned with base seasoning and chili powder. Remove the protein and in the same pan saute California Blend veggies seasoned with base seasoning and cumin. In the skillet add some precooked rice, season with chili powder and toss until heated through.  Garnish with lime wedges.

Chinese – Sauté a chicken breast seasoned with base seasoning. Remove the protein and in the same pan saute the California Blend veggies seasoned with base seasoning and Chinese Five Spice. In the skillet add some precooked rice, season with soy sauce and toss until heated through.  Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

Cajun – Sauté a chicken breast seasoned with blackening seasoning. Remove the protein and in the same pan saute the California Blend veggies seasoned with Cajun seasoning. In the skillet add some precooked rice, season with Cajun seasoning and toss until heated through.  Garnish with a sprinkling of Cajun seasoning.

By substituting the chicken for say, salmon you again add variation.  You could replace the California Blend on the Southwestern with canned corn and a few pinto beans or the rice in the Chinese with noodles or add a can of gumbo tomatoes and okra to the Cajun.

By mastering this simple technique we are free to explore the world of flavor.  So keep an eye out for my 1TIM Recipes.