In May, we decided to take a short hiatus from the Go Fork Yourself Podcast. Our dear producer, Beth K. Gibbs, left the nest to follow her passion. We’re excited for her, but she leaves big shoes to fill. Andrew, always an optimist, said we’d be back up and running by the end of June.… Read More →
I need your help. I want to bring your attention to a new café that just opened in North Minneapolis. I’ve been working with Appetite for Change to get a youth training program started at Breaking Bread Café, and I thought you’d be interested. Take a look at the information below (including this video), and let… Read More →
Iquitos’ Belen Market Accessible only by boat or plane, Iquitos lies at the intersection of three great rivers, the Amazon, Nanay and Itaya. No place generates more energy in this city than the Belen Market, a brilliant show of colorful produce and ingredients from the explosively fertile Amazon basin. The flavors are intense and fresh, eaten… Read More →
Operation Farm Rescue Record-breaking rainfall in Texas has had a devastating impact on communities and agriculture. Over the weekend, I received the following note from a friend, chef Rene Ortiz, with a call to action to help Urban Roots recover from flooding. An Austin-based non-profit, Urban Roots transforms the lives of young people through food and farming,… Read More →
Renee Erickson on Where to Eat & Play in Seattle Renee Erickson bought her first restaurant when she was just 25 years old. Seventeen years later, she owns four successful, beloved Seattle restaurants–Boat Street Café (closing at the end of May!), The Walrus and the Carpenter, The Whale Wins and Barnacle–as well as the oyster trucks Boat Street… Read More →
Sous Vide Cooking at Home By Madeleine Hill Look, I’m not Andrew Zimmern, but I do work for him (both a blessing and a curse). I love to cook, but I didn’t go to culinary school. Two years ago, I turned a hobby into a salaried job when I started testing Andrew’s recipes for Food & Wine… Read More →
My Favorite Cooking Tunes Music is always playing when I’m in the kitchen. What I listen to varies, but the playlist I’m sharing today is my perfect catch-all for spending time behind the burners. It’s an eclectic mix of genres, of new and throwback tunes… Holly Williams to Talking Heads to The Jayhawks. Listen here or, if you… Read More →
Don’t Forget the Oil Spray oil is really handy for both cleaning your grill and for applying a thin coat of oil to the grill grates before you put a piece of fish or chicken down. I use PAM Cooking Spray or canola oil all of the time when I’m grilling. I usually give a… Read More →
How to Win Your Next Dinner Party Maybe you’re the shy type who freaks at the idea of striking up conversation at an intimate dinner with strangers; maybe you’ve been hiking the Appalachian trail for the past few months and need a refresher course on culture and current events; or maybe you’re just a food-obsessed… Read More →
Congratulations JBF Award Winners! As always, I had a fantastic time at the annual James Beard Foundation Awards, the nation’s most prestigious awards ceremony honoring professionals in the food and beverage biz. I’m so proud to be a part of this amazing organization that works hard on education, agriculture issues, food insecurity and hunger relief. You… Read More →
A Technical Wizard Corey Lee is one of the most talented chefs in America. He’s a master technician and a creative wunderkind, cooking on a different level than almost anyone else in the country. Dinner at his three Michelin star San Francisco restaurant Benu is an unrivaled experience—a tasting menu comprised of a cuisine unique… Read More →
America’s Leading Pitmaster Aaron Franklin cooked his first brisket in 2002. After seven years of practice, he opened a food truck with his wife Stacy, though a few glowing reviews resulted in long lines and a move to a brick-and-mortar location on Austin’s east side just a year later. Today, Franklin and his crew serve… Read More →
The Votes Are In! Hosted by yours truly and an expert panel of 43 in-the-know culinary experts, the 2015 Munchies: People’s Choice Food Awards recognize the best-of-the-best in the food biz. After more than five weeks of competition and hundreds of thousands of votes, Tablespoon.com reveals the 2015 winners in 20 different categories, from terrific tastemakers to top food… Read More →
Doing His Part to Eradicate Lionfish John Mirabella is on a mission to bring attention to the devastating lionfish invasion in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. With no natural predators in this part of the world beyond humans, the rapidly growing populations may be one of the biggest environmental disasters these waters… Read More →
My next Quarterly box drops in just a few weeks. I’m thrilled with how it’s shaping up. I love surprises, but suck at keeping a secret, so when Quarterly said it was fine if I let a cat out of the bag this time around, I couldn’t wait. As a part of my #ZIM05 box,… Read More →
Pig in the Stable The Cochon 555 weekend takeover kicked off with a Chef’s Course Dinner at Spoon and Stable last Friday—a seated five-course meal prepared by host chef Gavin Kaysen, Steven Brown, Erik Anderson, Doug Flicker, Diane Yang and yours truly. An amazing group of local chefs that have made this city’s food scene what… Read More →
VOTE NOW! I’m happy to announce that The Munchies: People’s Choice Food Awards is back for its fourth year, honoring 100 of the top food experiences in America, along with Dan Barber as the inaugural Inspirational Food Thought Leader. The public can vote for nominees from across the country, chosen by an expert panel of… Read More →
Minneapolis’ Young Chef in the Spotlight Mike DeCamp, the incredibly talented and creative chef de cuisine at Minneapolis’ award winning La Belle Vie, just announced he’s leaving his longtime mentor Tim McKee to open a new restaurant with Jester Concepts (the team behind Borough and Coup d’etat). They’ll be taking over Hotel Ivy’s first floor restaurant, formerly Porter &… Read More →
Trust me, you don’t want to miss this. Cochon 555, one of the country’s most talked about culinary competitions, comes to Minneapolis on Mar. 1, 2015 to celebrate family farms, heritage breed pigs and today’s emerging chef community. This epic culinary experience coming here is further validation of our position as one of the great… Read More →
Going Back For Seconds I’m really excited to announce my second design collaboration with eyebobs, the limited-edition frame we call the Sun of Zimm. Making its debut for spring 2015, Sun of Zimm will be served up two ways—as sun readers ($79) and polarized sunglasses ($125). Like the previous collaboration, a portion of the proceeds… Read More →
Embrace the Cold A lot of people think I’m nuts when I tell them I live in Minnesota. Yeah, it’s cold here. However, the difference between Minnesotans and most other folks is that we embrace the cold. We ski, ice fish, skate and sled. We even still cook outdoors. We pack our weekends with loads… Read More →
An Impressive Debut After working in some of Chicago’s most prestigious kitchens—Charlie Trotter’s, Alinea and Schwa—chef Jake Bickelhaupt started an underground supper club, or “guestaurant,” called Sous Rising. With his wife Alexa Welsh, Bickelhaupt hosted Michelin-quality meals with a casual, dinner party feel in their Chicago apartment for nearly two years. In early 2014, Bickelhaupt and Welsh opened… Read More →
7 Knives & Accessories You Want When it comes to gift giving, you can never go wrong with beautiful, useful kitchen tools. Here are a few of my favorites. For the avid entertainer: Forget the electric carving knife, this set is where it’s at. Great for carving a turkey, Christmas ham, a big brisket,… Read More →
My Favorite Cookbooks of the Year Every year hundreds of cookbooks are published, dozens of which deserve a spot on your shelf. But we’ve tried to narrow it down to a handful that really impress–whether it’s the private cooking lessons from the world’s best chefs in Dana Cowin’s Mastering My Mistakes in the Kitchen, cooking… Read More →
Recommendations for the Far Flung Faroe Islands Halfway between Iceland and Norway in the heart of the North Atlantic, the Faroe Islands have famously been described as ‘the windy edge of nowhere.’ The 50,000 Faroese who live among the 18 islands are proud descendants of a Viking culture that landed here 1,200 years ago. Centuries… Read More →
Gift Giving Inspiration From products made by my students at Babson, such as the Craic & Blonde Haitian Pikliz and the super cool FireQube, to Shop Andrew Zimmern swag and my new line of cookware with CHEFS Catalog, here are my gift giving recommendations for 2014. We’ve also thrown in a few mainstays that never go out of… Read More →
Marcus Off Duty In Marcus Off Duty, chef, award-winning author and TV host Marcus Samuelsson steps out of the restaurant and into his home kitchen, where he teaches readers to cook global, flavorful and approachable recipes. It’s a beautiful book, filled with funky illustrations, stories, personalized playlists, and his tips and tricks for tackling ethnic… Read More →
Taste of the NFL founder Wayne Kostroski was recently honored with the Pedestal Award at this year’s Legends Invitational. The award recognizes former NFL players who are committed to giving back to their communities through philanthropic efforts. Kostroski, who was also the James Beard Humanitarian of the Year in 2010, is passionate about raising awareness… Read More →
Cookbook Gurus Brothers Matt and Ted Lee grew up in Charleston, South Carolina but attended colleges in Massachusetts. They so missed the foods from back home that they founded The Lee Bros. Boiled Peanuts Catalogue, a mail-order Southern food company. When an editor of Travel + Leisure magazine asked them to write a story about road-tripping their home state… Read More →
A Few Important Issues Support Local Food The 70/30 law is a twenty-year-old sales ratio that’s no longer compatible with today’s dining culture. It’s antiquated legislation that needs to be removed for small businesses to be able to thrive and grow. Here’s the gist: In 1983, Minneapolis passed a law that required restaurants and bars… Read More →
