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.

Check back 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.

The hot-off-the-presses MasterChef Cookbook is striking the first time you look at it.  It’s satiny metallic cover embossed with the MasterChef logo is almost intimidating.  Looking at it I was left with the impression that it might open up at any moment to reveal a bright red spandex suit that would give me super powers.

The book contains recipes from each of the 14 finalists plus a contributions from hosts Joe Bastianich and Graham Elliot Bowles.  Glaringly absent from the book is Chef Gordon Ramsey but honestly if you wanted a cookbook by Gordon he’s already written over a dozen.  However, if you saw a recipe on MasterChef that you just really loved then this is the book for you.

Within its 272 pages you’ll find 75 recipes and a 150 photographs making it first rate food porn.  Additionally you’ll find an essay by Bastianich entitled “Wine Notes.”  The chefs of the MasterChef kitchen have also assembled step by step instructions intended to help you master the basics of cooking called “Master the Basics.”  Now that’s branding.

This torrent of culinary data is masterfully brought together by veteran cookbook author and producer JoAnn Cianciulli.  Cianciulli (chan-chew-lee) is one of the food industry’s top insiders having worked with most of the country’s best chefs.  She has also worked behind the scenes on some of the most popular food shows like Bravo’s Top Chef and numerous Food Network programs.

MasterChef Cookbook is a great companion to the hit series.  It brings together a behind-the-scenes look at the contestants and hosts, recipe made famous on the show and ample bonus material.  If you are a MasterChef fan then you need to get the MasterChef Cookbook published by Rodale Books and available at amazon.com.

I guess it could be said that my hometown (Mobile, AL) is the epicenter of football.  We have our hometown South Alabama Jaguars starting their second season of NCAA play.  An hour or so away is the University of Southern Mississippi.  Two hours away is New Orleans home of the Super Bowl Champion Saints of the NFL.  Mobile also is roughly four hours from LSU, Alabama and Auburn.   All three are power houses from the nation’s toughest conference, the SEC.

Suffice it to say, we love our football here.  We also love great food so football season is also the height of our party season.  But football parties are not solely the domain of Mobile or the state of Alabama or even the South.  Starting this weekend football fans across the nation will be breaking out their best recipes to impress their guests and more importantly those who dare to wear the colors of the other team.

In the current issue of Southern Tailgater Magazine I have an article entitled Top 10 Tailgating Trends for 2010.  In the course of writing that article I chatted with Carrie Oliver of the Artisan Beef Institute where she offered burgers made from dry aged beef as a coming trend.  Unfortunately the constraints of the article kept me from using all of the information Carrie gave me.  With football season here I thought it a good time to share with you the rest of her expertise on the subject of grilling, trends and artisan beef.

According to Carrie, fancy condiments are out, dry-aged beef burgers are in.  Or as she puts it, “Bland is out, flavor is in.  Because when you use top quality beef that’s been dry-aged before you grind it, the burgers themselves have flavor. You won’t even need to use condiments.”