Oh,  this is right down my nerdy little alley. There is going to be a talk on “A Brief History of Tamales” on Thursday, November 19, 2009, 6:00-7:00 p.m. (Reception to follow 7:00-7:30 p.m.) The speaker is Claudia Alarcón (she writes on food for the Austin Chronicle) and she’s going to reveal all sorts of cool tamale trivia, like, well, the ancient Maya and Aztecs had no pork tamales! No pork tamales for them! Pigs did not get to the New World until the Spanish lugged them over around 1520. So the Aztecs and Maya made do with armadillo and iguana tamales, probably had some turkey ones too. (I once ate an iguana tamale in Oaxaca about twenty years ago at a little tiny restaurant, more like somebody’s house, that specialized in indigenous Mexican cuisine. Tasted like reptilian chicken.) Anyway, Alarcon’s talk is free and open to the public, and it will take place at the  ATT Education Room, Long Center for the Performing Arts, 701 W. Riverside Dr., in Austin.

(It’s sponsored by the Mexican Center, Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, College of Liberal Arts, at UT Austin. For more information please contact the Mexican Center mexctr@uts.cc.edu, or g.sanders@austin.utexas.edu. More talks are coming up in this three-part series.)

When your aggravatingly hip friends brag, “Ooooh, we just ate at Boeuf and Stuff, and it’s soooooooooo fabulous,” resist the urge to shove them into a large, steaming vat of creme brulee. Instead, get up to speed your own clueless self.  If you live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, hire Texas Toast Culinary Tours to lead you around by the hand.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to confess that Texas Toast co-founder June Naylor is a big friend of mine. But that’s also why I know that her tours will be great. (She’s a restaurant critic and cookbook author.) The Toast’s culinary excursions come in several lengths (short, medium, and long) and sizes (personal, small-group, and bus-size). It depends on what you want.  To dip your toe in the water, try the Seventh Street Shuffle, in Fort Worth, on November 17. Starting at 6:30 p.m., tourees will visit three restaurants  for noshes and drinks, for $75 per person. (Think of it as a progressive dinner/cocktail hour.) If you like it, watch the web site for other, more-extensive Texas-wide tours now being planned, focusing on wine 101; barbecue & beer; food, wine & art;  and much more. Sounds like fun to me.

Tagged: june naylor, texas toast culinary tours.

I’m having fun trying all the great little eateries in Texas Monthly’s new neighborhood close by St David’s. Lunch is usually a sandwich-shop adventure, but for breakfast there’s currently only one choice for me, and that is a stuffed croissant from Lava Java, the coffee shop that’s part of Longhorn Po-Boys on Medical Arts. These luscious buttery goodies come piping hot with your choice of three fillings: they offer bacon, cheese, organic spinach, sausage, sautéed potato, egg, etc, etc. It’s the French equivalent of a breakfast taco, I guess, utterly delicious and sinfully good. Add a large Yerba Mate or Monk’s Blend (a mix of green and black teas) and I’m set up for the day.

Tagged: lava java.

Oh, my bad. I dissed Brussels sprouts. This is going to get me in big trouble with the other half of humanity, which adores the bitter little edible marbles. Anyhoo, even though I see a lot of announcements for cooking classes, this one caught my eye. Anything that’s being taught by a chef from Craft, the Dallas branch of Tom Colicchio’s New York restaurant, is undoubtedly going to be good.  If anyone can redeem Brussels sprouts, it would be Jeff Harris, Craft Dallas’s chef de cuisine, who will teach an autumn harvest-themed class at Central Market in Dallas on Monday, Nov. 9 at 6:30 p.m. The cost is $65, and participants pick up tips on the following dishes: Pan Roasted Duck Breast with Turnips & Apple. * Whole Roasted Red Snapper with Orange, Fennel & Nicoise Olive. * Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Applewood Smoked Bacon & Apple Cider Reduction. * Roasted Assortment of Wild Mushrooms. * Hubbard Squash Purée. * Braised Red Cabbage. Check it out.

Tagged: craft restaurant, dallas, jeff harris.

Ahem. It’s never too late to have a pie thrown in your face for a good cause. I should know. Yeah, yeah, the picture was posed. But that only means the stylist slammed the pie on my face artistically (not in this picture, the next one, the one you’ll never, ever see. . .) .  Friends, I took it on the nose. Make my sticky sacrifice worthwhile by going to the web site for the Austin chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier, and clicking on the link right above this picture. This will lead you to an online auction of really great things (objects, dinners, vacations, experiences, and much much more–sixty items in all). If you have the winning bid, you’ll score a neat treat. And the proceeds wil help fund scholarships for young women who otherwise could not afford to attend culinary school. Check it out. The auction starts November 4!

Tagged: austin, les dames d’escoffier.

I’ve often said, if my friend  Rebecca Rather, aka the Pastry Queen, hadn’t left Austin and moved to Fredericksburg a few years back, I would now weigh 500 pounds. Everything she cooks turns to gold, as in golden-brown. (Whereas everything I cook turns into. . . . something seriously inedible. Why is that?) Anyhoo, Rebecca is going to be in Austin, this weekend doing a demo in the Cooking Tent at the Texas Book Festival. It’s Saturday, October 31, from 11 to noon. The Festival is held  in and around the State Capitol at 11th and Congress.  I’ll be emceeing, kibbutzing, getting in the way, whatever, at the cooking demo. So come on down and see how a real pro does it.  Rebecca’s new illustrated cookbook, which she’ll be signing, is Pastry Queen Parties: Entertaining Friends & Family, Texas Style, by Rebecca Rather with Alison Oresman (Ten Speed Press, $32.50 hardcover). Here’s a yummy sample from the book.

VANILLA SAND DOLLAR COOKIES

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar

2 tablespoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners or grease generously with butter or cooking spray. With a pastry brush, lightly coat a cookie stamp with a neutral-tasting vegetable oil, such as canola, or mist it with cooking spray.

Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter, sugar, and vanilla on medium-low speed until combined. Add the flour and salt and mix on low speed until just thoroughly combined. (Don’t overmix here or the cookies can be tough.) Using a 1 1/4-inch scoop, drop the dough on the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Stamp each dough ball firmly enough to make an imprint, but don’t press so hard that the cookie flattens to less than 1/4-inch thick. Bake until the cookies begin to look golden brown around the edges, about 10 minutes.

Tagged: pastry queen, rebecca rather.

I just got back from the most amazing food conference, in San Antonio. I think I gained five pounds. I’m also a lot smarter than I was the first day. It was the Latin Flavors, American Kitchens conference (Oct 14-16) put on by the Culinary Institute of America at its San Antonio campus. Yes, San Antonio. One of the three branches of the CIA is in the Alamo City, where its mission is to bring Hispanic wannabe chefs up to par, so they can snag the big jobs in the food industry and not stay stuck at the bottom of the ladder, as they too often are today. (Anybody of any ethnicity can attend, of course—if they have the moola—but most of the student body is in fact Hispanic, just like the city of San Antonio.)

In any case, back to the seminar. A series of talented and charming chefs from Mexico, Brazil, and Chile, also Puerto Rico and Cuba, all gathered at the Institute’s beautifully equipped demo kitchen auditorium and proceeded to chop, dice, slice, boil, saute, fry, and broil until the sound of salivating from the audience threatened to drown out the commentary.

Attendees were professional chefs and food-service pros, plus journalists, from all around the country who were looking to learn how they might incorporate zesty Latin flavors into their menus. This should be a great first step toward doing that. Now, without further beating around the bush, here is a little example of what was presented.

This recipe, from the CIA chefs, is for
FRESH OYSTERS WITH CILANTRO-LIME CAIPIRINHA GRANITA. (Think oysters on the half shell with the famous Brazilian liquor made into a granita—it was fantastic.) To be honest, I haven’t done it at home but it looked pretty easy.

INGREDIENTS
6 ounces cachaca (Brazilian rum-like spirit)
2 limes cut in wedges
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar, or as needed
Freshly cracked black pepper to taste
Sea salt to taste
Cilantro sprigs as garnish
Oysters on the half shell, as many as desired

INSTRUCTIONS
Place the lime wedges, sugar, and chopped cilantro in a bowl and muddle well, or use a food processor. Add the cachaca, salt, and pepper and mix in well, then pulse a bit. Place the mixture in a shallow metal pan and freeze it, scraping with a fork every few hours until it is completely frozen and fluffy (if you know an easier way, by all means, do it!)
To serve, place a spoonful of the granita over the oysters and garnish. Serve cold. (No, the picture is not of the dish—so it goes.)

Tagged: Latin Flavors Conference.

We all followed the bad news about publisher Conde Nast’s plummeting ad sales, and we all watched as their food magazines got skinnier and skinnier. (You could practically slip them under a door they were so flat.) But the bets were that, if CN closed any of them, it would NOT be Gourmet, the mothership and most prestigious. Wrong. Gourmet is folding after November, as just reported online here by the NY Times. Crazy, right? Read the story.

Tagged: conde nast, gourmet magazine.

Ever considered eating at this four-diamond restaurant – but daunted by the price tag?

Ah, the beauty of the Go Texan Restaurant Round-Up.

Now through Friday, October 2nd, enjoy the nearby bounty of Texas meat, fish and produce, all prepared by the innovative Executive Chef Jonathan Gelman and Chef de Cuisine Stephen Bonin. At $39 (not including alcohol), we found the three-course meal at the stately Grill to be a pretty stellar deal.

Take, for example, the beautiful Bella Verdi green salad we munched on, dressed in a garlic-pink peppercorn vinaigrette, and playfully held together by a parmesan bric dough. Or the antelope short ribs from Broken Arrow Ranch that are served with Austin Farmers Market tomatoes and Brussels sprouts.

“Nice opening act,” I commented, secretly wondering if the Grande Dame of Austin eateries could turn out equally fine subsequent courses?

My husband described his entrée, a fresh Texas pea tortellini bathed in basil pesto and studded with olive oil powder and Earl Grey tea-orange blossoms, as “tragically hip”. (It didn’t keep him from eating every morsel, and mopping up the plate with a piece of French bread.)

I, on the other hand, took the Texas Gulf bait. Seared Gulf snapper on a bed of rapini, lentils, aged black garlic, and tomato butter proved to be a sterling choice – flavorful, healthy, and the perfect size.

Pastry chef, Tony Sansalone, knows how to quietly dazzle as well. During the Driskill Grill’s Go-Texan Restaurant Round Up, you’ll enjoy an apple tart with homemade vanilla ice cream or a chocolate raspberry gateau – sweet denouements to a theatrical evening of impeccable food and atmosphere.

Tagged: driskill grill, go texan restaurant round-up.

Larry McGuire ought to be buffing his nails on the front of his chef’s jacket right about now. Esquire just named Perla’s, his baby, one of its best new restaurants of the year. The annual list is compiled by restaurant critic John Mariani. Perla’s, on S. Congress in Austin, is the only Texas restaurant recognized this time around. The November issue of Esquire will be on newstands Oct 13.