I think that the results of the first episode were predictable with the two least experienced competitors Lauren got  bounced in the opening quickfire after she thought that she could take the easy way out and open with an apple salad with bacon when challenged to “make a dish using apples and the ingredients on hand”  and her fellow cellar dwellar from the  quickfire challenge Patrick was ejected from the competition following a really cliched main challenge dish.   NYC has an awesome Chinatown that is the home of some absolutely incredible food and the best he could come up with is a weak Mirin-glazed Salmon on Black Rice Noodles and some Bok Choi.

Dude… you are a freakin chef…. go out and experience some real food!

Granted, Patrick was a CIA student and has way less experience that anyone else in the competition, but I could have kicked the guys ass in that challenge… or at least lost with some more creativity than that.

Another weak performance came from Ariane - who ended up in the bottom 2 with Patrick and was admonished by Tom for mentioning that her dish wasn’t her style… and that if she needed to cook that style for some reason, she’d get a recipe from a book.

She runs a 4 star restaurant in Jersey… Tom reminded her that Chefs learn from eating and experiencing, not from books and that she didn’t love far away from NYC and the opportunity to experience pretty much any cuisine at any time.

The first episode was great and I am looking forward to this season as there were some awesome dishes cooked that had me drooling… or was that Padma in the judging panel?

Anyway… until next week

The fine folks at Starbucks are offering a free tall drip coffee for anyone who comes in and tells them that they voted tomorrow.   I know where I’ll be at about 7:30

We talked about all kinds of topics and even talked some recipes, but spent the most time on some tips on how you can keep on Grillin’ through the fall and winter months.

Bruce shared a great recipe for Grilled Marinaded Pork Chops that I am going to try out this week.

Bruce’s Bad Ass Grilled Pork Chops
1/2-1 cup of soy sauce (depending on how many chops you have)
1/4-1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup stone ground mustard
1/2 cup pureed pineapple chunks

Mix all of it together until it’s all smooth. Put pork chops into a zip lock bag. Add marinade, marinate for 2 hours in the fridge, turning over once.

Grill on high until done-approximately 12 min/side @ 1″ thickness.

Bruce gave some awesome tips on fall/winter grilling as well including some tips on modifying your grilling time for cold weather conditions (under 45 degrees) where he suggested adding 20 minutes of cooking time at 350 degrees per 5 degrees (F) under 45.

He suggested as well some good strategies for avoiding heat loss in your grill including using a bowl of hot water on the grill to maintain ambient heat, using bricks in the bottom of your grill (gas and Traeger’s especially) and using foiled insulation blankets from the hardware store to insulate the outside of your cooker.

The interview is in 2 pieces due to some technical weirdness … enjoy.

Part 2:

I started to think… since I am married with a couple of young kids… I don’t get to go out drinking, and subsequently seeking “sliders” all that much anymore, so it would be a hell of an idea to get this kitchen weapon that allows me to make my own “sliders” at home… or worse yet - get my kids hooked on these addictive little mini-burgers.

If you ( like me before the first time I went to Michigan and experienced my first White Castle “bag of 10″ ) have no idea what the heck a “slider” is - it’s a mini-burger… on a mini-bun, usually accompanied by (and cooked on top of some mini-onions, with some mini-cheese on top if I have my way.  Purportedly, with this kitchen weapon of mass destruction,  you just heat up the bottom pan, drop in some ground beef, turkey, chicken, possum, etc.,  then press with the top half of the pan to flatten, and within a couple of minutes - voila - perfect slider goodness (thanks to the heat circulating action formed by the 2 part pan.)  Of course - since this is your standard “late night TV” offer there are freebies including a cookbook, a measuring spoon ( would be number 84 for me I think) and a “prep slicer” so I can cut my onions in perfect dice.

It kills me to admit it, but I am tempted to buy one of those things, which may result in me being struck by lightening or something since I am sure that I vowed at some point to never buy any product hawked by this screaming a-hole.

Rules are meant to be broken I guess.

A note to the fine folks at Severn Marketing - I would love to review one of these things…. a free one to play with and write up just might save my life.

Happy eating!

Wade

I was watching the Project Runway finale  with my wife and I was stoked to see that the next season of Top Chef (New York) starts on November 12rh.  I think it will be awesome to see some of the top up and coming chefs in the US in the top food city in the US.

(Besides, I’m about due for my Padma fix)

I am so stoked!

I am in town for the Illuminate Conference put on by my boy Alejandro from Successfool.com and I am going to take the opportunity to hit one of my all time favorite eating spots, the House of Nanking in China Town, San Francisco.

This place is kind of unusual in that the chef could easily be compared to the “Soup Nazi” from Seinfeld.    Here’s the deal:   You are best off if you just go with an open mind, and let them know how many dishes you would like, and if there is a specific ingredient that you don’t or can’t eat.   Then trust him to do the rest.   You will be rewarded if you do.

The restaurant is small, there aren’t many tables, the lobby doubles as a storeroom for cola cans and cases of Tsing Tao (the only beer they serve.  The service is rude and pushy.    If you don’t fill up a table, you will make new friends as they will stick someone with you (new friend? )   The line during dinner rush will most likely be down the street and there may be a wait.  Reservations…. yeah right!

But the food…. ROCKS… and it’s affordable.

Last time I was in town, Jim Kukral and I hit the House for dinner on a recommendation from our concierge.   We had 3 entrees and about 6 Tsing Tao’s and the bill was less than $45.

In the words of the immortal Gary V - that is called bringing the THUNDER

Anyway… we’ll be video blogging from the House of Nanking tonight - so stay tuned.

I have to admit I was really skeptical when I got a call out of the blue a couple of months back from Bruce Bjorkman, the Marketing Director at Traeger Grills and all around BBQ god.  He’d checked out the UltimateFoodie Podcast and asked if I would be into reviewing a Traeger Grill - he asked for my address and a few days later one was on my doorstep.  After my wife and I put it together (not too tough of an assembly job) I was anxious to get cooking.  It’s been a love affair ever since.  Bruce has become a friend and a favorite UltimateFoodie.com guest as well/

The Traeger Grill is a different kind of animal from my gas grill or from my charcoal grill in that it runs on compressed “pellets” made of different hardwoods.  Instead of adding chips to get flavor, the pellets function as fuel and flavoring all at once and the smokey flavor you get from the Traeger is outstanding.  Coolest of all is that you have your choice of a ton of different “flavors” of pellets including Hickory, Alder, Apple, Cherry, Maple, Onion, Garlic, Mesquite, Grape Vine and more.  I have found myself mixing and matching chips like I would spices in a rub to get subtle flavoring combinations in my grilled food.

The Traeger is really set up for “Barbecuing” as opposed to “Grilling”  it is all about indirect heat provided by a small auger-fed firebox with a blower - so no direct flames are ever all that close to your food.  The Traeger Grill is essentially a convection over powered by natural wood and with the associated wood smoke flavors. This convection action also makes it possible to do some nice baking on the Traeger - I have used mine to make some dynamite hot sandwiches, baked potatoes and best of all PIZZA.  Traeger actually partners with Papa Murphy’s Pizza and it is a winning combination for sure.

Traeger Pellet Grills are not something you can pick up at Walmart - they are not cheap - but are worth every penny.  They are hand made in the USA by folks in Oregon here in the great North West with pride.  If you are  a serious outdoor cook, I highly recommend that you pick one up either directly from Traeger at http://www.traegergrills.com or through one of their local dealers.  Tell them Wade from UltimateFoodie sent you and before long you will have a man-crush on your Traeger Grill too.

I’ll do some follow up posts with recipes and reviews of the food I have made on my Traeger in coming weeks.

It was pretty crowded downstairs and the wait was 45 minutes for a table, but we headed up to the third floor balcony where the wait is first come first serve and the view looks out over Caesar’s Palace. We were sat in about 10 minutes and immediately ordered a couple of drinks.

Wade had a pomegranate margarita on the rocks and I had their delicious frozen Raspberry ‘Rita. For an appetizer, we had Conch Fritters with a chili cream sauce which was divine and we both ordered their Cheeseburger in Paradise which just seemed appropriate. We kinda forgot in our ravenously hungry state to take photos of the food, but I did manage to get one of my margarita before it disappeared. (Ok, ok…it was a photo of the second one, but still.)

Tonight, we head to Wolfgang Puck’s Chinois at Caesar’s which is Asian Fusion. So excited!

Last night I found myself craving the yummy goodness that is a chocolate crinkle cookie, so I decided to whip up a batch only to find that I was too low on flour to make them! Unbelievable. If you know anything about my kitchen, you would know that I’m usually overstocked on 6 things: sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, butter, coffee…and flour. I couldn’t believe that I was so low on flour!

Stumped and kicking myself over my purchasing snafu and a wee bit cranky that I hadn’t been able to satiate my chocolate craving, I returned to my computer to find a twitter message from my good friend Kim from ShoppingBookmarks.com about the No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies she had just made. I clicked on the link to her recipe and bingo! No flour necessary!

These cookies were easy to make, took very little time and only one saucepan to heat everything up. They are a little sticky, but other than that, they are incredibly rich and chewy and I would definitely recommend pairing them with a tall glass of milk!

Here’s Kim’s recipe:

Kim’s Incredible No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies
2 Cups white sugar
3 TBSP Unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Ghirardelli’s Unsweetened Cocoa. Yum!)
1/2 Cup butter (you could use margarine if you like that sort of thing)
1/2 Cup milk
1 pinch salt
3 Cups quick cooking oats
1/2 Cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
In a saucepan, bring sugar, cocoa, butter milk and salt to a rapid boil for 1 minute over medium high heat for 1 minute while stirring constantly. Remove from heat and working quickly add oats, peanut butter and vanilla. Stir with a spatula or spoon until well combined and drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper or parchment. Let cool and consume!