Easy Thai-Style Curry By Andrew Zimmern A taste of the tropics during the Minnesota winter is always welcome at my house. This Thai-style dish is so easy to throw together for a weeknight meal but also works as a stunning entrée for your next dinner party. It has all the hot, sour, salty and sweet… Read More →
Eight-Legged Treats Of all the foods I have eaten in my lifetime, the tarantula strikes me as one of the strangest from a psychological standpoint. We are pre-conditioned in this country to think of these fuzzy insects as scary and poisonous, belonging on Halloween decorations, not dinner plates. But they taste great, reminding me of… Read More →
A Few Latin Favorites Miami’s population has seen a radical shift in recent years. With an influx of Caribbean, Central American, South American, and other Latino communities in the city, it’s become the unofficial capital of the Latin world. You should expect in a city where nearly 70 percent of the population is Latin American… Read More →
A Battle-Tested Classic By Andrew Zimmern This was all I ever wanted to eat growing up and I still crave it more than I care to admit. This Eastern European cabbage soup is really more of a schi than a borscht, but why quibble over names? In America in the ’60s, unless you were Russian, this… Read More →
Old-School Japanese Curry By Tadashi Ono & Harris Salat Let’s dial it back to where it all began: old-school Japanese curry. Sweet-savory, fragrant, rich—and irresistible—this dish calls for the classic Japanese curry ingredients, that is, root vegetables, apple, and beef. And you thicken it using an old-fashioned roux, a French-style thickening agent for sauces made… Read More →
A Quick Braise & Glaze By Andrew Zimmern Trying a healthier diet? This simple recipe is a good place to start. The flavor combination of carrots, curry, orange and ginger is amazing, not to mention incredibly nutritious.
Authentic Chinese at Home By Andrew Zimmern Fermented chile-garlic bean sauce (toban djan) will change your cooking life. You can marinate with it, use it as a rub, in a sauce or any way you can imagine. The fermented beans supply all the punch of authenticity and honesty you need to make some great Chinese… Read More →
Indulge in Montréal Montréal is not only one of the most beautiful and captivating cities in North America, it’s also one of the most exciting places to eat and indulge. Our neighbor to the north celebrates foods like poutine (French fries and cheese curds smothered in gravy), maple syrup and decadent foie gras, so a… Read More →
This Year’s Required Reading There have been too many wonderful cookbooks published in 2013 to mention, but here are 25 of my favorite. No matter what type of cook you consider yourself to be, these are cookbooks that should be in your library. From recipes for simple weeknight meals to authentic Asian dishes and impress-your-guests… Read More →
Welcome to the Future By Andrew Zimmern Apps and i-whatevers are old news in the venture capital meccas of San Francisco and Silicon Valley. The big investment frontier is now food, and what’s going on out there is revolutionizing what we eat, how we eat and how it gets to us. Hampton Creek Foods is… Read More →
Always Special By Bob & Sue We visited both of Robuchon’s Paris Ateliers and enjoyed many different small plates including langoustine ravioli, foie gras hamburger sliders, iberico pork brochettes and of course the legendary Robuchon potaoes (made with decadent amounts of butter). Our all time most legendary chef appeared at the Champs-Elysees location, and we relived with him the… Read More →
Always Special By Bob & Sue We visited both of Robuchon’s Paris Ateliers and enjoyed many different small plates including langoustine ravioli, foie gras hamburger sliders, iberico pork brochettes and of course the legendary Robuchon potaoes (made with decadent amounts of butter). Our all time most legendary chef appeared at the Champs-Elysees location, and we relived with him the… Read More →
Minnesota’s Blue Ribbon Bakers When it comes to prize-winning cakes, cookies, muffins and breads, Candy Freeman and Lois Thielen are the women to beat. The Minnesota natives jumped into the competition baking circuit nearly 20 years ago, and have since won too many ribbons to keep track. This year, Freeman’s orange bundt cake won Grand… Read More →
Sinful Holiday Dessert By Andrew Zimmern This whiskey-spiked bread pudding is a winner, and makes for a decadent addition to your holiday spread. Plus, it solves the problem of what to do with your leftover bread.
Embracing a Proud Culinary Tradition Representing his adopted home town on the current season of Bravo’s Top Chef, Justin Devillier is the chef and owner of New Orleans’ fantastic neighborhood bistro, La Petite Grocery. Since taking the reins in 2007, the California-native has focused on traditional Louisiana flavors and ingredients in his contemporary cuisine – think turtle bolognese… Read More →
I’m Drinking What?! For those who seek a killer caffeine buzz, kopi luwak might be the Holy Grail. This Indonesian coffee is one of the rarest and most expensive beverages in the world. A pound of primo beans garners upwards of $500, and a single, thimble-sized cup of the brew can go for 10 bucks… Read More →
Khao Niaw Sankhaya Turian By Andy Ricker Durian has a powerful aroma. Westerners, who tend to shun the fruit, would probably choose a stronger term. In Southeast Asia, however, durian is considered the queen of fruit and it fetches a high price. Yet even where durian has fans, it’s not always welcome. Cabs, trains, and… Read More →
A Worthy Alternative to the Traditional Bird By Andrew Zimmern If you don’t want to roast a whole turkey, or you’re just looking for a new tradition, try this boneless stuffed turkey breast. The butchery is easier than you think, but you can always have the butcher do it for you! The chestnuts and the… Read More →
Never Fails to Please By Judith Choate This is my go-to fall and winter dessert; it never fails to please. I think I began making it when we owned MOM, our pie shop, and I would tire of making the same 3- or 9-inch double-crust pies. Since we were an all-American shop, I didn’t want to do a… Read More →
Celebrating the Life of a Legendary Chef I have known Shin Tsujimura since his early days at Hatsuhana in New York City. He had come from Hatsuhana in Tokyo and after a brief run in the NYC outpost, he joined up with Nobu Matsuhisa and has been a part of that world class group for… Read More →
New Channel & New Year’s Eve Since I’m such a food-and-travel nerd, I’m always excited to see new and engaging food-and-travel content. American Express (who also happens to publish fantastic culture magazines such as Food & Wine and Travel + Leisure), now has it’s own television channel with travel recommendations and tips, interviews with chefs,… Read More →
Lessons Learned Along the Way By Andrew Zimmern John Besh is one of the great culinarians of our time. He owns and operates nine fantastic restaurants – August, La Provence, and Domenica, to name a few. He’s got TV shows, and endorsements and cool things with his name on them, but I admire him most for how… Read More →
Jump Around They’re high in protein, low in fat, and rich in minerals, not to mention they’re delish! After ants, grasshoppers are the most popular insect eaten around the world. Unlike ants, grasshoppers have superior flavor profiles that vary from region to region depending on their diet, and grasshoppers can be cooked any way imaginable.… Read More →
Not-So-Guilt-Free Greens By Andrew Zimmern I created this bacon-and-egg salad when I was a chef at a French bistro in Minneapolis in the early ’90s. Within a week or two it was a massively popular lunch special and our best seller at brunch. It’s hard to beat the contrasting combination of salty and sweet, hot… Read More →
Make the most out of the fall harvest. By Andrew Zimmern If you’re looking for an alternative to mashed potatoes or roasted vegetables, you gotta try this spaghetti squash crumble. It’s the ultimate, sweet-and-savory fall side dish that just screams comfort food. The yellow winter squash is also low in calories and packed with nutrients,… Read More →
The Intersection of Entrepreneurship & Food Hosted by Food Sol at Babson College, the third annual Babson Food Days (October 23-24, 2013) celebrated food “Entrepreneurship of All Kinds” with an assembly of food innovators, pioneers and leaders, including yours truly and my fellow Entrepreneur in Residence Gail Simmons. It’s a great event that seeds and… Read More →
Stellar Spiced Orange Duck By Andrew Zimmern When I was growing up in NYC in the ’60s, my dad would take me out every week for roast duck at any of the half dozen amazing Czech and Eastern European restaurants that helped define the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan for generations. Those days are gone: The… Read More →
Thai-Style Carrot Soup By Andrew Zimmern Carrots and curry were made for each other. Michael Voltaggio’s cold carrot salad with Thai flavors at Ink., in Los Angeles, is so superbly crafted that I thought about it for days after trying it. At home I don’t do anything with liquid nitrogen or as many bells and… Read More →
Divulging the Food Network Allen Salkin’s new book From Scratch: Inside the Food Network is a fascinating chronicle of the evolution of a television network, from a scrappy start-up to an influential powerhouse that turned food into a cash cow and chefs into celebrities. The former New York Times reporter paints a behind-the-scenes picture, including… Read More →
Kielbasa & Pea Soup By Andrew Zimmern Whether you’re at the game or at home on the couch, this one-pot meal is fantastic football food. I bring this to almost every tailgate I attend. My grandma started making a version of this almost 50 years ago, using kosher hot dogs and her mom’s pea soup… Read More →
