George Clooney Update

Many of you may have been wondering what Clooney has been up to since he lost his gig as my online sidebar avatar. I’m sorry to report the news is not good. Apparently he took the dismissal much harder than anyone could have imagined. For those of you that are new to this blog, George served as a celebrity look-a-like for my profile photo for many months (you can see him pictured below during happier times). Once my secret identity was made public by About.com, I replaced Mr. Clooney’s photo with my own, and told him that his services would no longer be needed. At the time he sounded fine with it, and said he still would like to “stay friends.” We’ve all heard that one before.

Anyway, my Hollywood sources tell me that since he was removed from the site, he has really let himself go. As you can see from the photo, he has gained about 50 pounds, and friends say he basically lives on hot dogs, chocolate Pop-tarts, and root beer. George, if you are reading this, please get a hold of yourself! You still have the movie career, and all those beautiful women, and all that money. You’re going to be okay. You just need to move on.

They’re Bigger, They’re Better, and They’re Back!

This 60-Second Brussels Sprouts recipe just debuted on About.com, and as you may have read, I plan on posting all the video recipes I’m producing for them as soon as they go “live” on their site. I’ve already posted this recipe, shot with the old web cam a while ago, so you may have seen this before. But, I think this brand new version is much better, and the video quality is far superior. 

As you can see below, the video is larger that the regular YouTube embed. This is a bit of an experiment, as I had to widen the post column to make room for the new recipes. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new version and the larger flash player. 

 

Ok, enough techno babble. These really are delicious Brusses Sprouts…believe it or not. I know you may be thinking “delicious Brussels Sprouts” that’s an oxymoron! No, these really are tasty. As you'll see, the secret is the super fast cooking time. Seriously, this could be your new favorite veggie. Like most people, I hated Brussels Sprouts until I had them prepared in the style you are about to see. This preparation is so different than any other recipe I’ve seen for these tiny green cabbages. I really hope you’ll give them a try. Enjoy!

8-10 Brussels Sprouts, sliced very thin
1 tbl olive oil
1 tbl butter
1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Warning: Chef Trying to Do Something Much Harder Than Cooking

I will be working on the blog's template this weekend, so depending on when you are checking in, the blog may look a bit askew as I try to widen the left column to accommodate even larger, higher-res videos. I got permission to embed the new recipes I've been doing for About.com, and they play at a size larger than my left hand column. So wish me luck, I'll need it.

"Excuse Me Waiter, There's a Shoe in My Garlic Chicken"

I've heard the food at the Great China Buffet in Nanuet, N.Y had a lot of soul. What I didn’t realize was they didn’t mean "soul," they meant "sole," as in the prep cook's shoe! Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the human garlic press.

An employee at a store next door to the Great China Buffet, saw this cook crushing garlic outside the restaurant with his shoes. He snapped some photos and sent them to the Rockland County Health Department. In the understatement of the year, John Stoughton, from that public health department was quoted as saying, "We would not consider a person's shoe a proper instrument to use in food preparation."

The restaurant was cited and the employee is no longer employed there. He was not available for comment, but friends said he really feels like a heel.

Photo credit: Dan Barreto and the The Journal News

Getting Paid for Making Video Recipes? It’s About.com time!

I mentioned a few posts back that I was doing some freelance video production to support this blog. I was pretty vague since nothing was official, but now it is. I am officially a “Food Video Producer” for About.com/food.

I have been working long and hard on an extensive list of assignments for their site. Due to this very necessary outside work, I’ve been unable to post as often as unusual. The good news is that once these recipes are posted on About.com, I will be able to do a post about it, and link to the video on their site. So, even though you won’t be able to play the clip on the blog as you can now, you can at least see me in action. And, as an added bonus, you won’t have to listen to me say “be sure to check the site for the ingredients” as much! The photos you see here are from upcoming recipes that will appear on About.com soon.

By the way, I do plan on doing at least two Food Wishes videos per week, along with the usual array of other edible items. So, that’s the update. I’ve put a link below to my debut on About.com where I did a slightly different version (with new and improved jokes) of the old Watermelon and Feta Salad. Since you seen and read about that one already here, I didn’t bother with a new post.

Thanks, again to all the support and stay tuned for a whole new run of great video recipes on both this blog and About.com.

To see the Watermelon and Feta Salad recipe video, click here!

Testing, 1, 2, Testing

Blogger recently added the feature of uploading video directly into these posts. So I thought I would test it out with an older, low-res, yet still incredibly delicious chicken recipe I previously posted using the standard YouTube embed. I'm curious if there is a big difference in quality. The other obvious advantage is I could post videos that would only be available to visitors of this blog, since I could avoid the need to upload to video sharing sites first, just to get the flash embed code.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't feel bad, I'm not that sure either. Anyway, we are basically comparing the two clips. Any and all input is welcome, especially from tech nerds.

Here is the blogger video upload of The "Ultimate" Roast Chicken at same size as the YouTube version:


Here is the regular YouTube flash embed of the same clip:


Here is the blogger video upload of The "Ultimate" Roast Chicken:


Well, so what do you think?

Happy Labor Day… only 113 shopping days until Christmas!

Wow, is summer really gone already? That was fast, but then again, it always is. Is it really just the old saying “time flies when you’re having fun,” or do those extra long days screw with our sense of time? Who knows, but it does seem like I was just writing that Memorial Day post.

I hope you all enjoyed this summer, and were able to cook and eat lots of great food. I appreciate all the visits, and comments, as the blog has really grown rapidly the last few months. Special thanks to all of you who helped spread the word about Food Wishes. It’s been a lot of fun learning and using the new equipment (I took the plastic off one of the manuals the other day), and I hope the videos will become even better, and more enjoyable for you.

So, as days grow shorter, sunflowers go to seed, crunchy leaves cover the lawn, and some idiot tells you how many shopping days until Christmas, take heart; we are entering the prime cooking and eating time of the year. I hope you will visit this blog often for ideas on filling your fall and holiday tables with an array of delicious and somewhat healthy recipes. Finally, here’s to all the poor cooks, chefs, and other hospitality workers that celebrate Labor Day by working. Don’t feel too bad though, they’ll catch up after work…they always do. Cheers!

Btw, the sunflower photos were taken on a recent walk through San Francisco. You can even see parts of the beautiful Victorian they were planted in front of.

Almost Famous

Just a quick update regarding the “Blogging to Fame” contest, where my blog has been nominated, and has received a surprising number of votes (to me at least). I think I’m one of the top foodie blogs in the running, and I’m assured of a spot in the final 500 blogs that will be considered by a jury to choose the top blogs. Of course, I did do a whole post and email blast basically begging people to go to the BTF site and vote for me. Anyway, thanks to everyone that took the time to go and vote. And special thanks to Nora from County Durham, England, who is my biggest BTF fan (and ballot stuffer) and head cheerleader.

I recently heard that you can now vote for your favorite blog once a day (did you hear that Mom?), so even if you voted for me the first time I asked (begged), apparently you can legally vote again. I won’t bore you again with the details, but if you are new to this blog you can click the link below and read the short, but scintillating, original post explaining this contest. Thanks!!

Click here to read the original post: Am I Blogging to Fame?

Mo’s Bacon Bar and the Creative Process of an Avant-garde Chocolatier

In yesterday’s Halibut and Bacon post I mentioned a woman who had combined bacon with chocolate. I discovered her on a fellow foodie’s blog, Catherine’s “Chocolate and Sage.” Her name is Katrina Markoff, and she is the Owner and Founder of Vosges Haut-Chocolat. This video is a lecture she gave at the TASTE3 conference which was presented at the Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa. In it, she explains the four step process she uses to create these very unusual chocolate collections.

Yesterday I said I found the lecture both inspirational and ridiculous. After watching it for a second time, I changed the word “ridiculous” to “perplexing.” Ridiculous sounded too negative, which wasn’t my intention. While I was truly inspired by her passion and obvious love for what she does and creates, I was sometimes lost during parts of her explanation of the process. It’s probably because I have no intentional or formal thought process with my cooking, and actually try NOT to think about what I’m doing too deeply. Anyway, I realize it’s a long lecture, but it’s worth watching, and I’d love a spirited discussion and/or debate in the comments as to what your thoughts are regarding her approach. Is she thinking too much, or am I not thinking enough? Or should we all just eat a piece of chocolate with bacon and smile?

I've posted this before, but could this Simpsons clip have been the real inspiration for this candy bar?

Hello World! It’s me, Chef John…the man behind the hands

I knew this day would eventually come. I realized I couldn’t hide behind George Clooney’s photoshop’d photo forever. When I first start filming and posting cooking videos on the internet about a year ago, I made the decision to never appear on camera. I wanted to be the anti-Food Network Chef, which seemed to be more and more about the Chef, and less and less about the food and the cooking. I also found that most of the amateur cooking videos people were posting looked like audition reels for Hell’s Kitchen. So, since I wasn’t going to appear in the videos, I decided I would just remain completely anonymous. I liked that people would email asking for pictures of me. I liked being mysterious (I had never been mysterious before).

So, why show myself now? I have too. I have recently been contracted to do some “professional” cooking videos for several online outlets (to be named later), and as part of the production I must be seen introducing the recipes. Since I knew it would only be a matter of time before one of my blog visitors saw me on one of these other sites and recognized my sultry voice and nimble fingers, I decided to out myself today.

By the way, just because I’m now using my real photo on the blog, the video recipes will not change. I will still never appear in the recipes, mugging for the camera nor doing puppet shows with an oven mitt. I will not deviate from my original vision of what these videos should be about…the food.

Happy Birthday Valerie!

One thing I am VERY careful about when it comes to authoring this blog is preventing it from becoming a “blog.” When I go to read another blog about wine pairing or Thai food, that’s what I want to read about, I don’t want to read about the blog author’s ear infection, or that their cousin just got back from Nova Scotia and wants to share some photos. So, I’ve kept this blog 99.5% about food, with the one exception of wishing my Mom and now my sister Val, a happy birthday. She is a police officer in western New York State, and I should add, a great cook in her own right! I love her famous Chicken Kiev, which is why it’s pictured at the beginning of the post. So, you thought you were going to see a Chicken Kiev video…psyche! Although, the next time I’m in NY, I will be sure to film her making this delicious, garlic butter-soaked recipe.

Since I ripped Paul McCartney’s cooking skills yesterday I thought I would show him doing something he’s good at. Here’s a video of Paul singing Happy Birthday to my sister.



Chicken Kiev photo credit

Chef John’s Now “All Shook Down!”

As many of you know, I’ve been threatening lately that I might have to “get a real job” to help support this site while it continues its steady climb up the blog food chain. Of course a real job would mean less time to spend filming and, long story short, more pirated Simpson’s clips instead of delicious new video recipes. Well, that hasn’t happened yet (alright, everyone take a couple seconds and look at the donation button on the sidebar…OK, back to the post), but I have been given a great opportunity to spread my ‘food wishes’ to a larger audience.

Last week I was named “Associate Food Editor” of SFWeekly.com's daily culture website All Shook Down. I will be sharing posts, photos, and videos from this blog, as well as covering other online foodie news. I’d like to thank the SFWeekly and Village Voice Media for this great opportunity.






For those of you not familiar with the SFWeekly, it’s a great alternative newspaper in San Francisco, and required reading for anyone that wants to know what’s really going on around town. I look forward to a long and fruitful relationship. Hey, does this mean I can now get media credentials for the Press Box at the ball game? I really should do a story on those garlic fries. I’ll have to check on that.

My Favorite Food Network Star – Alton Brown

When people hear I’m a Chef (or at least that I play one on the internet), they always ask the same two questions. What kind of food do you cook? And, who’s your favorite TV Chef? The first question’s one I can never answer, since I cook everything I can get my hands on. I never understand that first question, and usually give some smart-ass response like, “edible foods” or “the kind you buy at the market.” The second question is easy; Alton Brown. His sense of humor, his entertaining delivery, and his scientific (yet simple) approach to food is what really makes me such a big fan. Besides, his jokes and puns are almost as bad as mine!

Here is a short, and I think inspirational, interview he did on the Big Idea recently. It’s an interesting look behind the man and his show, Good Eats. Enjoy.

"Cuisine Spontané" with a View - Doing Lunch in Dolores Park

"Cuisine Spontané" is just a fancy French term for wandering around a market, without any preconceived plans, grabbing whatever looks enticing, and then heading back to the kitchen to create a meal in a sort of culinary stream of consciousness. It’s a really fun way to cook. By the way, I’m sure there are a few soccer moms out there reading this right now thinking, “wow, I do that like 5 times a week…so that’s what it’s called!” And you thought you were just rushing through the grocery store throwing things in the basket.

For my wife Michele and I, this "Cuisine Spontané" approach was applied quite deliciously to a recent picnic lunch we enjoyed in beautiful Dolores Park. It ended up being a two-course meal. The elements were picked up on 24th Street in Noe Valley, on the same walk I wrote about in the Farmers Market post.

The first course was spicy chicken served in heart of romaine lettuce cups with fresh cilantro. We bought a pint container of some wonderful stewed chicken at a small Taqueria. It was falling-apart-tender and cooked with onions and peppers in a light, but fiery, tomato and chili sauce. This location also served as the source for our plastic silverware, napkins, and a small plastic cup of chopped fresh cilantro.

We finished this two-course meal with some ‘fresh out of the oven’ walnut bread, topped with creamy Mozzarella Di Bufala Campana (Italian Buffalo Mozzarella cheese) and slices of perfectly ripe peaches from Farmer's Market. The sweet, juicy, golden peach with the snow-white, slightly tangy cheese, on the dense, nutty bread was truly amazing.

It would have been a great picnic lunch without the view, but eating with the San Francisco skyline as our backdrop just made everything taste that much better.

Finding a New Farmers Market in the Greatest Food City in the World

Sorry New York, Paris, New Orleans and all other metropolises that would lay claim to that title, but when it comes to food, San Francisco has to be the most blessed place on earth. By the way, when I say “San Francisco” I mean the entire Bay Area; that includes our culinary muse (and home of the original Gourmet Ghetto) Berkeley, as well as Sonoma and Napa Valleys. Can there be any other place on earth that’s home to so many great Chefs, amazing restaurants, diverse cultural influences, and magnificent array of local ingredients.

On a sunny Saturday, in the middle of the day, in the middle of summer, in the middle of the City, I stumbled upon a Farmers Market I didn’t even know existed. My wife and I were taking a walk to a neighborhood called “Noe Valley,” for some picnic supplies. This ‘hood is known for it’s great shopping; a long stretch of small, funky shops selling all things edible and otherwise.

About halfway through our expedition I saw a modest collection of tents and booths set up in a small parking lot. As we entered the lot, I realized we were standing in a Farmers Market full of the most colorful and delicious looking fruits and vegetables I had seen all summer.

Now, I’ve been to the large downtown Farmers Markets in San Francisco hundreds of times and, always to my disappointment, have never remembered to bring my camera. So, that I happen to be carrying my camera on this particular walk, and would accidentally find this unknown-to-me market, seemed very ironic. Am I using “ironic” correctly here? I hate when people use ironic in the wrong context. Did I just do that? Someone will let me know I’m sure.

Anyway, the light was perfect, the tables were piled high, and I snapped away (in between sampling copious amounts of perfectly ripe stone fruit), getting what I think were some pretty good pictures you see throughout this post.

The peaches were perfect. The speckled red and black plums from Santa Rosa were amazing in both color and taste. The flowering basil screamed at me to make pesto. The seedless Thompson grapes, warmed by the sun called me over for a few samples as the vendor looked on wondering if I was going buy any. Next time, I promise. A serpent’s nest of heirloom cucumbers sat next to a basket of Roma tomatoes so bright they were practically glowing. I made a mental note to buy some Feta. And, no Farmer’s Market would be complete without the obligatory toy box of mixed sweet peppers.

The only photo here that wasn’t part of the market is the “just a scrumptious as it looks” fig bread. This was from the Noe Valley Bakery a few blocks away. I’ve been buying this fig bread for over a decade, always serving it with a ripe Cambazola cheese and fresh strawberries. And with that last shot, I put away the camera, and we headed toward our picnic in Dolores Park. Thank you San Francisco. After all these years you still manage to surprise and seduce me in the most unexpected and wonderful ways.

Food Wishes - The Highest Ranked Blog in the World!!

That’s right, and the screen shot I took of the Technorati blog ranking stats proves it! Part of my usual weekend site admin duties is going over to Technorati to check my blog’s rank. You can imagine my excitement when I realized I was now the author of the top ranked blog in the world. Well, that didn’t take long. I guess I better call my broker and begin discussing my IPO.

The blog has been climbing steadily in rank ever since I first began tracking these statistics a few months ago. Back then, Food Wishes was ranked like 120,000th. At first, I was kind of depressed that after all the hard work I hadn’t even cracked the top hundred thousand blogs. But when I saw that the total number of tracked blogs was an amazing 71 million I felt a lot better, since that put me well within the top 1%. Last week when I checked I had climbed to the 70,000th ranked blog. So, I figured at that rate of ascent it was only a matter of time before I took over the top spot. I just didn’t think I would pass 70,000 blogs in one week.

Well, much to my chagrin, I soon found out that Technorati was doing some type of site maintenance and that every blog in the world was given the top ranking for a few minutes. When they finished their work I saw my real rank; a respectable and still rapidly climbing 60,930. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

The Sincerest Form of Flattery?

My sources in LA tell me that when actor Christopher Walken heard that a certain George Clooney look-a-like was doing cooking videos online, he became enraged and demanded his personal assistant film him making his “famous” roast chicken and pears. And to think, all this time I thought Mr. Walken was a great actor. After seeing this surreal and somewhat disturbing cooking clip, I realized that he hasn’t been acting at all. He really is the creepy, monotone-voiced character we’ve seen him play all these years.

What’s even worse than this guy blatantly stealing my act, is the fact he cuts off the video just as a cat jumps up on the counter and heads for the chicken. What happened next? Is there going to be a sequel? By the way, on the very rare chance Mr. Walken sees this (or his people see it and call my people), I’d like to say I’m just kidding and please don’t hurt me.

Giambotta (Vegetable Stew) – My Childhood Summers in a Bowl

The night before I left New York, my mother and I were invited to my Aunt Joyce’s for dinner. When I heard she was making “Cha-bought,” I knew I had to bring my camcorder to film this unusual and delicious dish. As a child, I probably had this for lunch 3 times a week during the summer at my grandparents. Everyone (at least all the Italian-American families) had backyard vegetable gardens; so fresh green beans, zucchini, sweet and hot peppers, and herbs were always plentiful.

This simple vegetable stew was pronounced “Cha-bought” by my grandparents. I’ve always wondered what it meant, or what the actual Italian name was. Thanks to Scott from Boston I was informed that the dish I had grow-up on was really called "Giambotta." Scott says this translates to "everything/a mess," which makes a lot of sense due to the array of vegetables that can and were used in this stew. He said his mother dropped the “a” from the end, and called it "Giambott.” So, to make a long story even longer, what I called “cha-bought” was actually a mispronunciation, of a mispronunciation.

Now, what made this dish so unusual was that it was made with hot dogs! That’s right, an ancient Italian vegetable stew made with 100% pure American hot dogs. Why? Here’s my theory. This dish was originally made either with all vegetables, or with the addition of Italian sausage. Growing up, I do remember this being made with sweet Italian sausage occasionally, but most of the time it was hot dogs. I believe that hot dogs were simply the least expensive sausage available, and so my grandparents, needing to feed many mouths without many dollars, chose this lower cost alternative. The strange thing is, it really works! It tastes wonderful no matter what sausage you chose, and since I grew up on it I think I actually prefer hot dogs, even to this day.

For me, there is no better mid-summer meal than a large bowl of steaming Giambotta and a couple slices of Italian bread. Of course, that’s not all we ate that night. Aunt Joyce and her friend Steve also made grilled sweet corn, and a beautiful fresh mozzarella tomato salad (all pictured above). It was a great meal, and a great way to end my visit to New York, and to re-connect to my culinary roots. Enjoy!



Ingredients:
4 oz sweet Italian sausage (optional)
1/2 onion sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbl olive oil
Slowly sauté above ingredients on low heat until onions and garlic turn translucent (do not brown garlic)

Then add (as seen in the video)
about 36 oz. tomato puree (any combination of whole peeled tomatoes, plain tomato sauce, or canned tomato puree) ERROR ALERT: IN THE CLIP I SAID "JUST OVER 2 QUARTS" BUT I MEANT ONE QUART...OOPS
3-4 zuchinni
3-4 russet potatoes
2 bell peppers
1/2 pound green beans (*blanched)
2 pounds hot dogs (or any sausage)
1/2 bunch fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste

*I’ve read that adding raw green beans to a tomato sauce can cause the beans to “toughen” as the acid in the sauce reacts with the fiber in the beans. So it may be better to blanch the beans for a few minutes before adding to the sauce. Having said all that, I have added them raw and they are OK, but I do think the texture is better if they are blanched first… someone get me Alton Brown’s phone number!

Chef John verses the Garbage Plate

Before I left New York, as promised, I experienced the legendary Garbage Plate. My biggest fear with this post is that someone visiting my blog for the first time, possibly during their lunch break, sees the photo on the left, loses said lunch, and never returns.

Anyway, that’s just a chance I’ll have to take. The first thing I’d like to say about the Garbage Plate is that it actually tasted way better than it looked. I know what you’re thinking… how could it not? The culinary logic behind the dish is pretty solid. If you like pasta salad, homefries, hot dogs, and chili, then you certainly will enjoy them in huge quantities all piled on top of each other.

I didn’t make it to the home of the original Garbage Plate, Nick Tahou’s in Rochester. I decided to try mine at a trusted lunch spot in Canadaigua, called Charlie Riedel’s. I have been coming to Charlie’s for years. They serve some of the best burgers around, and their fish sandwich (a huge, perfectly fried piece of haddock on a soft roll), is the best I’ve had anywhere. But, in all my visits to Charlie’s I had never tried a Garbage Plate. By the way, as you’ll see and hear in the video clip, they don’t call it a Garbage Plate.

I was going to give you the entire history of the Garbage Plate here, but then I found an old FoodTV clip on the subject, so I’m posting that below mine. There’s not much else to say, except that I hope you enjoy the clip. I’d like to thank the staff at Charlie’s, which could not have been nicer. Thanks Barb, Jessie, Andy and Noah! There was also another girl working the counter, but I never got her name. So, whoever you were, thanks to you too. Also, to Scott the Manager (who wasn’t there that day), your loyal staff did charge me full price for the plate. They were not about to be bought merely for the promise of Internet fame. Enjoy!



This clip from FoodTV explains the history behind this bizarre dish

San Francisco, Here I Come

I'll be leaving New York for San Francisco this evening, but won’t be getting in until early Thursday AM. So I probably will not be posting again until Friday at the earliest. But, I do have some very cool stuff to share. Yes, I did have a Garbage Plate! I felt just like Michael Moore, going behind the scenes with my hand held camera to capture this legendary dish. How was it? You’ll have to stay tuned for that exciting video exposé.

You’ll also get to see Uncle Bill’s braised chicken recipe I already teased, as well as a video recipe my Aunt Joyce did of my all-time favorite summertime vegetable recipe that’s made with…(are you sitting down?)...hot dogs! It’s pronounced “Cha-bought,” but I don’t know the actual spelling since it’s another example of a family name that is an Americanized mispronunciation of an actual Italian term. I believe it comes from some Italian slang or term for the word “mixture.” If any of my Italian viewers can help with this culinary mystery after seeing that clip, please do contact me, or leave a comment.

Thanks to everyone for your comments and emails about my Mom. She is recuperating slowly, but surely, and appreciated all the kind thoughts. Also, thanks for your patience with my inability to post as regularly as usual. As I said, I should be back to regular production in a few days. Ironically, site traffic has been increasing steadily while I’ve been here in NY, and I want to welcome all the new visitors to this blog. As they say, “You aint seen nothing yet.”

Today’s clip is dedicated to anyone that’s never been to San Francisco. It’s a montage of some of the City’s most beautiful scenes set to Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” I try to never take for granted that I’m lucky enough to live in America’s most beautiful city. If you ever get a chance to visit, I’m sure you will agree. But, be very careful, you may not go back. I came to San Francisco for a 3 month visit, 24 years ago!

This clip was a promotional video made by the Union Bank of San Francisco, and features a surreal interpretive dance by some hula dancers. Why are Hula dancers interpreting a Tony Bennett song about the City to promote a bank? I have no idea, except to say, “That’s San Francisco for you.” Enjoy!