Claire Robinson Helps Cooks via Twitter
I found this in my e-mail this morning. Very cool:
Robinson to Host Tweet Chat to Help at-Home Cooks Make Simple and Super Meals
SAN DIEGO – Aug. 2, 2010 – Food Network chef and “5 Ingredient Fix” host Claire Robinson is partnering with Chicken of the Sea to promote the SuperCook contest and spark creativity in the kitchen with a live chat on Twitter.
The chat will take place Aug. 5, 2010, at 8 p.m. – 10 p.m. EDT. During the chat, Robinson will offer tips on how to create easy and great-tasting meals. She will also answer cooking-related questions from participants and encourage people to get creative and enter Chicken of the Sea’s SuperCook contest – a search for people who know how to make simple and super meals. Those interested in participating can follow @COSMermaid or follow the hashtag #COSChat on Twitter.
“Creating great-tasting and healthful recipes doesn’t need to be complicated, and it doesn’t need to break the bank,” said Robinson. “That’s what the SuperCook contest is all about. During the chat, I’ll be sharing some of my favorite tidbits that will help any cook make simple and super meals his or her family will love.”
The SuperCook contest encourages home cooks across the country to share their original recipes using any Chicken of the Sea product for a chance to win the grand prize: an appearance on national television, $10,000 cash and be featured on a Chicken of the Sea product package. One first-place winner will receive $3,000 and also be featured on a product package. Second- and third-place winners will receive a $2,500 and $2,000 cash prize, respectively. To enter, visit ChickenOfTheSea.com and submit your recipe by Aug. 15.
Entrants are judged on: recipe creativity; use of Chicken of the Sea product in the recipe; embodiment of Chicken of the Sea’s brand assets of health, nutrition and convenience; and taste and appearance of recipe.
The chat is part of Robinson’s ongoing relationship with Chicken of the Sea to promote the SuperCook contest. Previously, Robinson conducted a nationwide television media tour in which she promoted the contest and offered viewers simple and super recipe ideas. Robinson can also be heard on radio nationwide and seen on the Internet and on various social media platforms promoting the contest.
A seafood category leader, Chicken of the Sea provides a variety of shelf-stable seafood products, including tuna, salmon, crab, shrimp, oysters, clams, mackerel and sardines. The Chicken of the Sea brand and famous Mermaid icon are among the most recognized brands in America.
Anthony Bourdain’s Medium Raw
Respected but largely unknown New York City chef Tony Bourdain wrote a book called Kitchen Confidential over a decade ago. What has followed since is nothing short of the American dream. More books, TV shows, fame, fortune and family. Recently Bourdain released his latest, Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook and is aiming for a paperback release later this year. In order for a little pay back, Tony is offering lessor known writers (like myself) a chance at stardom. Here, let him tell you:
Here is my entry:
Well Done: The essence of all that is cooking boiled down to fit comfortably in the proverbial nut shell.
I know people who insist that making tuna salad is “cooking.” They make the same argument for a bowl of cereal, can of soup, bag of chips and even Pop Tarts. They are “eat to live-ers” and are as alien to me as a Klingon. I, undoubtedly, am just as alien to them. Why would anyone grind chuck roast just to hand pat a burger when they could easily roll by a window and get a fat burger for under three bucks? Sadly, for them anything that doesn’t involve a combo number is “cooking.” Tragic news to someone who has enjoyed cooking since he was five years old. At the same time, good news for someone who has made a living from doing it for them. Life is a series of trade-offs.
For a cook, cooking is pseudonymous with creating; it is art. Whether that creation is an elegant Beef Wellington or a simple reduction sauce to bring life to an otherwise boring piece of chicken it is the process itself that draws us to the kitchen. There is rhythm in the chopping of onions and melody in the sizzle of bacon. At the risk of sounding overly metaphoric the kitchen is Pink Floyd and the meal is “Dark Side of the Moon.”
I have had people tell me that the food I cook at home tastes as good as restaurant food and they mean that as a compliment. Few restaurants, no matter how extravagant can touch a really great home cooked meal. A great meal is a communal event; it brings people closer together. Yet it is also an intensely personal experience. Intimacy only serves to accentuate the sensation. There is nothing more intimate than to cook for someone. Well, nothing that is considered appropriate in a public setting.
There is a place and a time for going out and having a great dinner at a restaurant and those times should be cherished. But every meal, everyday? Any idiot with an American Express card can walk into an Le Bernardin and have a meal that excites the senses. But it is a whole other animal to create that meal with your own imagination and energy. There is a self-satisfaction that cannot be replaced no matter how much money you throw at it.
To cook well, to cook really well is to elicit an emotional response that goes beyond the palate. Truly great food either conjures memories or creates them. It can be seen in the “oh face” of your fellow diners. The first bite of a truly great meal suspends time; that bite is like “the first time” and one should savor it for what it is, ecstasy. Crunchy, gooey, cheesy, acidic, sweet ecstasy.
Like it? Of course you do. So go vote for it HERE.