Food Network

I try to give new Food Network shows a try -- if they don't seem too stupid (I'm talking to you, Guy Fieri)* - or at least maybe they are new to me. You never know, right? So when I saw Mexican Made Easy, I thought okay, let's try it - We love Mexican food, real Mexican - not that greasy stuff you get a mediocre Mexican places - blech. 
Where does Food Network get these people? I know there are contests (next food network loser star - again, Guy, I think I'm talking to you), but come on. Marcela Valladolid is as bad as Giada but with worse ideas - stop with the accent - please you just seem, well, silly.  I un-TiVo'd the show after an episode for the card-company created holiday** was entitled "Cuddle Cuisine." I think I got a little bit sick. Barf. So much for that... another in a myriad of Food Network shows that will be ignored. Can't they come up w/anything good? Sigh - I guess it's just AB again. 


* I'm thinking we must worship at the altar of Food Network Humor.
** Valentine's Day for those of you who think it's real and that he really loves you because he manages to take you out to dinner one time a year... weak. 

Finishing Salts

Ordered a sampler of finishing salts from The Meadow. I like the idea of a sampler so I can
1 - see if this is just silly
2 - get a sense if a finishing salt can really make a difference in dishes.


Not only are they lovely to look at, they came with a very detailed description booklet that I've read and re-read and highlighted key topics for each salt. Hopefully, the highlighting will help make decisions when I get my nerve up to ruin enhance the flavor of my dishes.
As an aside, Good Eats last night was The Ballad of Salty and Sweet and AB profiled different finishing salts. I realize it's a trend, but I've always been a little fascinated by salt - I mean Romans were paid in the stuff for the love of Pete (who is Pete exactly, anyway?).

Salts in the sampler include:
Fleur de Sel de Guerande (France)
The Meadow Sel Gris (China)
Maldon (England)
Turkish Black Pyramid (unclear, the Mediterranean, but I'm assuming off the coast of Turkey somewhere)
Alaea Volcanic (Hawaii)
Kauai Guava Smoked (Hawaii)
(in spiffy new jars)


I think I would like to go to The Meadow in person - they specialize in salt - chocolate - wine - flowers. I think I could be happy there - not that I'm a huge chocolate fan, but perhaps I would enjoy it more if I got some REALLY good chocolate. Too bad The Meadow is in Portland Oregon - doesn't the Pacific Northwest have enough cool stuff that the rest of the country could just steal a few things from them? That said, The Meadow did send a piece of chocolate as a thank you - Santander Columbian single origin semi-dark chocolate 53% cacao. It's happily stored in the fridge - one day I may get around to trying it. I'll be going back to The Meadow. 

Firecrackers - AB

In my fit to say I knew of NO carrot recipes for the February Tigress' Can Jam, I forgot one thing... that I did know one recipe for pickled carrots. It wouldn't work for the Can Jam since it's not hot water processed, but I have made it before (in 2002) for the MotH. Here it is... 


Firecrackers
Alton Brown
Ingredients

1/2 pound mini carrots

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups cider vinegar

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon chili flakes

2 dried chilies

Directions

Place carrots in a spring-top glass jar. Bring the water, sugar, cider vinegar, onion powder, mustard seeds, salt, and chili flakes to a boil in a non-reactive saucepan. Boil for 4 minutes.

Slowly pour the hot pickling liquid over the carrots, filling the jar to the top. Place the chilies in the jar. Allow the carrots to cool before sealing. Refrigerate for 2 days up to 1 week.


Comment from the Counter: 
* Used crinkle cut carrots - had a noble idea of cutting carrots on mandoline, then reality set in and I just bought them - a little weak to be sure, but the firecrackers got made this way. 
* Used more onion powder (2 tsp) - I don't keep onion powder on hand, so had to purchase, but now I'm not sure what to do with the rest of it ...
* 1 tsp mustard seed - how can that hurt?
* 1 heaping tsp of red pepper flakes - don't we want it hot?
*Instead of two dried chilies (which I can't find at the damn store, except for dried ancho peppers - boring), I used two fresh finger hots (Jwala). 

Food Terminology

Last night, on the 1st episode of Next Iron Chef, the participating chefs kept tossing around the word confit. Now, I know of duck confit, but I've never heard of someone making mango confit or salmon confit. Both sort of defy the definition of the word. If you look at Barron's Food Lover's Companion by Sharon Tyler Herbst, which I have owned and used since 1999 at least, you would not that confit is defined as such, "...is derived from an ancient method of preserving meat (usually goose, duck or pork) whereby it is salted and slowly cooked in its own fat. The cooked meat is then packed into a crock or pot and covered with its cooking fat, which acts as a seal and preservative."


It certainly seemed like everyone had just learned the word so they were using it as much as possible - blame it on the foodie I suppose. groan.


So are they just tossing around words to impress people who don't own a copy of the Food Lover's Companion? If (and that's a big IF) Food Network is interested in getting people to cook - which I realize these cooking contest are not designed to do - you would think they would advocate for proper use of terminology. I would have expected, at a minimum, that Alton would throw the BS flag on the chefs... disappointing.