Average Betty

2011 WTVC Food Blog Awards

WTVC Awards
Welcome to the very first Wannabe TV Chef (WTVC) Food Blog Awards.  These awards are my way of recognizing some of the best foodie sites on the Online.

Some of the people awarded I have had the pleasure to meet in person and others probably don’t know me from Adam.  Now sit back and meet the winners of the 2011 WTVC Food Blog Awards:

Best Site by a Professional Chef: Big Jones Blog by Chef Paul Fehribach

Best Site by a Home Chef: Average Betty by Sara O’Donnell

Best Lifestyle Site: Jolene’s Trailer Park by Jolene Sugarbaker

Best Health & Fitness Site: The Bikini Chef by Susan Irby

Best Instructional Site: Food Wishes by Chef John Mitzewich

Best Outdoor Cooking Site: Deep South Cooking Outfitters by Gene Fox

Best Food Writing Site: Ruhlman.com by Michael Ruhlman

Best Celebrity Chef Site: Alton Brown (just a lowly cook) by Alton Brown

Best Niche Site: Happy Little Bento by Sheri Chen

Best Dessert Site: Bake and Destroy by Natalie Slater

Best Site With a Cause: Bloggers Without Borders – A Fund for Jennie

Best Branded Site: Bitchin’ Kitchen by Nadia G

Food Network Star Exit Interview: Justin Davis

The first order of business – Happy Fourth of July!  Because of the holiday Food Network delayed the exit interview until Tuesday.  I hope that hasn’t sent anyone into DTs.

Other than the occasional guest spot on Iron Chef America or Best Thing I Ever Ate the Food Network had earned a reputation for snubbing new media foodies.  A serious amount of disrespect considering that there are foodie web sites that are actually older than the Food Network.  Most people, given the opportunity, would rather watch Average Betty than Barefoot Contessa.  We’d rather see Chef Unleashed than the abomination that is Extreme Chef.

But that changed a little on August 2, 2008 when Ask Aida premiered.

The Aida in question was Aida Mollenkamp who had previously been the editor of the mega food site CHOW.com.  Last year another food blogger, Aarti Sequeira (AartiPaarti.com, GoodBite.com) competed and won Food Network Star 6.  It isn’t much, but it’s a start.

Justin DavisEnter Justin Davis, one part of the husband-wife food blogging team behind GastronomicDuo.com.  Justin was poised to be the next new media foodie to find stardom on the latest installment of Star.

Justin hardly received any face-time the first two weeks, dominated the screen in week three, became a promising competitor in week four.  But in week five Justin’s run was over.  His elimination was puzzling since Chris had a much worse performance than anyone else on the show, for the second time this season.  But at the same time Justin never really put in a great performance.

Alicia Sanchez voiced displeasure with her experience on the show in a blog post that has since disappeared.  In it she suggested that contestants were not eliminated because of performance but according to script.  She has also voiced her suspicions about whether Chris and Penny were actors who were planted to spice things up.  As it turns out, Penny was an actressLast week Justin Balmes seemed less than joyful over his Star experience as well.

This week I get the feeling that Justin Davis was just relieved to be off the show based on this from his elimination post at Gastronomic Duo, “If Food Network wants Penny’s, Chris’s and Jyll’s, they can have them. I was called the opposite of authentic, I would say the same for the show. ”

Justin mentioned some of the close friends he made on the show even mentioning that when Justin B. was eliminated he actually teared up.  At the same time he clearly was not enamored with all of his fellow contestants saying, “A lot of the other finalists, I felt, were like little children standing in a room yelling Hey, look at me!  Look at me!”  He said inwardly he felt, “I don’t know that I want to play this game.”   “I put myself out there to be judged and to be critiqued.  I can’t be upset about how it turned out,” he admitted clearly upset.

It was obvious both watching the show and talking to him that Justin was not happy being part of Food Network Star.  His performance on the show was easily that of someone who was disengaged.  I think Bobby Flay nailed it when he said, “He dropped out of high school and I feel like now he is dropping out gain.”  Justin himself said, “I learned something about myself; I learned I’m not cut out for reality TV.”  An honest assessment.

Justin was also nice enough to share some of the warmer behind-the-scenes happenings.  He was especially impressed with the approachability of season two winner Guy Fieri saying, “He took the extra time to kind of step away from everything that was happening, which is the competition, and took a minute to talk to everyone as a person not as Guy Fieri.  It was really interesting to see that side of him.  He concluded, “I found him to be a humble and welcoming person.”

How has traffic to Gastronomic Duo been effected by your appearance on Star?

It definitely has seen an upswing.  I feel like we’re a little bit more on the radar.  Especially locally, my local appearances, we’ve seen a lot of really good traffic.  I’d still like to see a lot more obviously.

We’ve been running it for two years and I think the first year and a half was trying to figure out what it was going to be.  We’ve finally got it to the point that it looks good; it feels good. Now we just have to get the video in play.

To date Aida and Aarti are the only two Food Network celebs to get their start on the Internet.  Do you think that the network is missing out by not tapping new media sources for on-air talent?

I think that there’s a huge food blogging community out there and I have found them to be, for the most part, really supportive.  People want to start this online discussion about food and I think that food bloggers have a lot to say.  Do I think that they are totally missing out?  I don’t know.  I wouldn’t deter any food blogger from trying to go on the show.

On your blog post yesterday you alluded to “big things” on the horizon.  Can you give us a hint as to what you have in the works?

I’m lining up doing a small online series; it’s just going to be a quick four episodes.  Get it up and get it out there and try to market myself.  I think we’ll find some really fun special guests.  I think it’ll be an interesting thing.  I want it to be an expansion of my blog.  It’s my half of the blog.

I’m all about seducing women with food.  I think that if I can teach men to cook a lady something that they’re going to love I feel like they’re going to have a much better chance at getting a second date.  I’m going to do a little video series on that and see what the response is.

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Be sure to stop by each Monday for my exclusive mourning after exit interviews with each exiled foodie (HERE). This year I have also added the WTVC (WannabeTVchef) Food Network Star Polls – six categories for contestants who best embody the spirit of former Food Network Star competitors. Be sure to check them out HERE. Click HERE to get all the news, gossip and snark on Food Network Star season 7.

Corn Smokies with Cackalacky Sauce

Corn SmoakiesChef Stuart whips up a batch of Corn Smokies (corn dogs made with artisan sausage) and a dip called Cackalacky Sauce. There may also be a cameo from Average Betty.  These are perfect for your Fourth of July celebration.  They would also make a welcome addition to any tailgate party.

This recipe uses an artisan smoked sausage from Conecuh Sausage Co.  Conecuh hickory smoked products began back in 1947.  A lot of preparation has gone into producing their delicious smoked sausage and ham.

They choose only the best meats, prepare them with their patented blend of seasonings and smoke them over a pure hickory fire for that true Southern flavor. The menu hasn’t changed much over forty years, but then, neither has the quality.

: Cackalacky Sauce

: A mustard-based BBQ sauce from South Carolina

  • 4 cups Yellow mustard
  • 1/2 cup Apple cider vinegar
  • 8 ounces Beer
  • 8 tablespoons Brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup Ketchup
  • 2 tablespoons Black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons Salt
  1. Heat all ingredients in a sauce pan over medium heat and mix well.
  2. Cook until sauce just begins to thicken.
  3. Serve cool or warm. The sauce will last in the refrigerator for a long time.

Preparation time: 5 minute(s)

Cooking time: 10 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 8

 

: Corn Smokie

: Meat on a stick

  • 1 cup Buttermilk
  • 1 Egg
  • 3 tablespoons Sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon Baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
  • 1 cup AP flour
  • 2/3 cups Cornmeal
  • 2 pounds Smoked pork sausage
  1. Cut the sausage to desired length and then grill or roast until the skin is crispy. Set aside.
  2. In a mixing bowl, combine buttermilk and egg. Start with one cup buttermilk, more may be added later if needed for consistency.
  3. In a second mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Adjust the amount of sugar to taste.
  4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add buttermilk and egg mixture.
  5. Stir together until combined. Batter should be thicker than pancake batter.
  6. Dredge each sausage in flour then in the batter. Deep fry in oil that is 365 to 370 degrees (American) until golden brown. Serve with Cackalacky Dipping Sauce.

Preparation time: 5 minute(s)

Cooking time: 10 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 8

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Video Recipe: Embarcadero Barbecue with SFQ Sauce

Chef John Mitzewich is the Michael Chiarello of Internet chefs who stars in the two-time Tasty Award winning web series Food Wishes.  In January I met up with Chef John at an event in Los Angeles and during that time he told me that his wife, Michele, had invented a new barbecue sauce called SFQ Sauce.  Michele had realized that for all of San Francisco’s grand heritage in food that there was no definitive style of BBQ to represent the City By The Bay.  Well she fixed that.

SFQ Sauce is a truly amazing sauce.  It has that whole Northern California influence with the inclusion of dark chocolate and coffee.  It would be easy for someone to take a base BBQ sauce recipe and just add some chocolate and coffee to sound all froo froo and fancy but in this case these non-traditional ingredients are spot on.

When you first sample SFQ you won’t taste the chocolate or the coffee what you will taste is something that is far more complex than your standard BBQ sauce.  SFQ has nuances and layers of flavor that are simply unheard of.  There is something familiar about SFQ, it is at it’s base a Kansas City style that is sweet and smokey.  I sampled the sauce with chicken and it was quite good.  The sauce would lend itself really well to beef like brisket or smoked beef ribs.

But I decided to get the full Frisco experience I needed to BBQ something that screams Golden Gate – salmon.  So watch as I prepare Embarcadero BBQ Salmon with Lobster Scented Brown Rice and Pepper Jack Broccoli.  Recipes follow the video.

Recipe: Embarcadero BBQ Salmon

Ingredients

  • 2 6-ounce salmon fillets, skin on
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt, pepper and granulated garlic to taste
  • SFQ Sauce

Instructions

  1. Preheat a charcoal or gas grill to medium-high heat. Rub the skin side of each fillet with olive oil then season to taste with salt, pepper and garlic.
  2. Making sure your grill grates are clean, hot and oiled up, place the fillets skin side down and cook for roughly 7 minutes. If the fish sticks it is usually a sign it is not ready to be flipped.
  3. Once the skin is brown and crispy it should release from the grill easily. Turn the fillets over, paint with SFQ sauce on the skin side only and cook roughly two minutes more.
  4. Serve immediately.
http://sfqinfo.blogspot.com/

Recipe: Lobster Scented Brown Rice

Ingredients

  • 1 cup quick cooking brown rice
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup lobster stock
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Bring water and stock to a boil.
  2. Add the bay leaf and rice then season with salt.
  3. Reduce to a simmer and cook for roughly five minutes or until all liquid is absorbed.

Recipe: Pepper Jack Broccoli

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Broccoli florets
  • 1/4 cup Water
  • 2 TBL Extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 slices Pepper Jack cheese

Instructions

  1. Add the water to a medium-high pan.
  2. When it begins to boil add the broccoli and cook, stirring frequently until the water has boiled off.
  3. Add the olive oil and season to taste sauteing until the broccoli is heated through but still firm.
  4. Top each serving with a slice of cheese then serve.

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Stuart in 80 Words or Less

Stuart is a celebrity chef, food activist and award-winning food writer. He penned the cookbooks Third Coast Cuisine: Recipes of the Gulf of Mexico, No Sides Needed: 34 Recipes To Simplify Life and Amigeauxs - Mexican/Creole Fusion Cuisine. He hosts two Internet cooking shows "Everyday Gourmet" and "Little Grill Big Flavor." His recipes have been featured in Current, Lagniappe, Southern Tailgater, The Kitchen Hotline and on the Cooking Channel.

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Stuart’s Honors & Awards

2015 1st Place Luck of the Irish Cook-off
2015 4th Place Downtown Cajun Cook-off
2015 2nd Place Fins' Wings & Chili Cook-off
2014 2015 4th Place LA Gumbo Cook-off
2012 Taste Award nominee for best chef (web)
2012 Finalist in the Safeway Next Chef Contest
2011 Taste Award Nominee for Little Grill Big Flavor
2011, 12 Member: Council of Media Tastemakers
2011 Judge: 29th Chef's of the Coast Cook-off
2011 Judge: Dauphin Island Wing Cook-off
2011 Cooking Channel Perfect 3 Recipe Finalist
2011 Judge: Dauphin Island Gumbo Cook-off
2011 Culinary Hall of Fame Member
2010 Tasty Awards Judge
2010 Judge: Bayou La Batre Gumbo Cook-off
2010 Gourmand World Cookbook Award Nominee
2010 Chef2Chef Top 10 Best Food Blogs
2010 Denay's Top 10 Best Food Blogs
2009 2nd Place Bay Area Food Bank Chef Challenge
2008 Tava: Discovery Contest Runner-up

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