SanLuisObispo.com: Food

Ben & Jerry's makes `Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road'

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:19 PDT

Ben & Jerry's has done it again: Hoping to honor rocker Elton John before his first-ever Vermont performance, Vermont's crazy-cool confectioner has whipped up a flavor just for him - "Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road."

The limited-batch ice cream, made from "an outrageous symphony of decadent chocolate ice cream, peanut butter cookie dough, butter brickle and white chocolate chunks," is a take-off on his 1970s album and song "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road."

It will be available from July 18 to July 25 in the company's Vermont scoop shops, with proceeds going to the Elton John AIDS Foundation, officials said Tuesday.

In wake of China's tainted food, Olympic planners strive for healthy meals

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:59 PDT

Guards carefully monitor the perimeter of Lin Yuan's farm, where carrots, peppers, tomatoes and other vegetables will ripen just in time for the hungry athletes arriving for the Beijing Summer Olympics.

"What is special now is the security," Lin said as he strolled out of a greenhouse and pointed to sentries at the farm's entry gate.

Food safety is a sensitive subject as China hosts the Olympics. It weathered global concerns last year about the safety of its exports, amid scandal over tainted pet food and toothpaste, and now China is striving to ensure that the food served to 16,000 athletes in the Olympic Village is healthy and free of contaminants.

Light choices for cool picnics

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:45 PDT

Find a shady park, shoo the ants and spread your picnic lunch - from fried chicken to fruit salad - on a checkered tablecloth. Pop open the cooler and pluck a bottle of cool, crisp heaven.

But what wine should you choose? Not a hearty red zinfandel, which can reach 14 or even 15 percent alcohol. It'll make you sweat. Alcohol gives wines weight, smoothness, opulence. And heat.

A good summer wine is typically low-alcohol. If you check labels you'll see there are lots of wines that are 12.5 percent, 11 percent, even 9 percent - for a variety of reasons.

The Edgy Veggie: A tale of 3 tofu dogs

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:45 PDT

Once upon a time, there were three tofu dogs - The Good Dog ($3.99 per 12-ounce package), the Smart Dog ($4.29) and the Tofu Pup ($3.49).

These meatless franks were made from soy isolates, a pure form of soy, and lived in the refrigerator case of the market. They offered at least 8 protein grams apiece - more than their meaty counterparts - contained no nitrites and sat lighter in the stomach.

The tofu dogs all tasted pretty much like the meat dogs they mocked. They used beet powder to give themselves that ruddy, beefy appearance - a successful ploy except for the Tofu Pups, which had the unnatural orange hue of Malibu Barbie.

Kathy's eggs in a nest

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:45 PDT

Paula Deen's followers know that she serves up plenty of mouth-watering recipes. Her Eggs in a Nest was recently one of the Top Ten dishes on the Food Network's Web site.

But the calorie count and fat content in her breakfast creation won't win many fans.

One serving of Deen's Eggs in a Nest contains 590 calories and 49.5 grams of fat. Eating a Double Croissan'wich with ham, eggs and cheese from Burger King instead would save you 170 calories and 26.5 fat grams.

Dinner in minutes: Berries sweeten a meaty pasta salad

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:45 PDT

Here's a cool, fresh berry and steak salad for warm summer evenings. It's a one-dish meal that can be ready in less than 15 minutes.

Berries are at the height of their season. They add sweetness to the tangy dressing of Dijon mustard- and horseradish-spiked mayonnaise thinned with a little water.

Steak goes well with the horseradish in the sauce, but for an even quicker dinner, substitute cooked chicken, shrimp or deli roast beef.

A few snags on the path to catching our dinner

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:45 PDT

I learned the basics of line and tackle fishing from my late uncle Oscar Portuondo, first in Cuba and then in Miami, where my husband and I often joined him at his favorite fishing spots on the bay side of Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park or the old Rickenbacker Causeway Bridge.

My uncle was a man of the tropical sea, but I know he would have found great joy in the sweet, cold-water bounty of the Delaware River Valley in Pennsylvania, where I own a small vacation home.

This beautiful land of forested mountains and rocky soils has never yielded the locally grown produce and artisan foodstuffs of my dreams, but I have come to appreciate its greatness as a fishing territory. Even when my catch is a meager collection of bluegills or rock bass, I luxuriate in the access to fish fresh out of the water.

15-year steak-sauce search ends in success

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:45 PDT

When legendary The Place for Steak on Miami's 79th Street Causeway closed in the early 1990s, we began getting requests for its steak sauce recipe. Last month, we ran yet another reader plea - and finally, we've got the answer.

The restaurant was the late-night stomping ground of Miami's glitterati in the 1960s and '70s. Notorious as a mob hangout, it was where you might catch one of the Rat Pack grabbing the microphone or overhear Jerry Lewis telling jokes at his usual table in back. Its bar stayed boisterous until 5 a.m., attracting "out-of-towners looking to swallow a good time whole," as Patty Shillington wrote in The Miami Herald.

"It was where you wound up at two in the morning for a great breakfast," reader Lynne Elster recalled.

Chop shop — kitchen knife techniques; learn how to make the most out of your kitchen knives

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:45 PDT

Talk about a timely cooking class.

A couple of weeks ago, personal chef Wendy Carroll of Seasoned to Taste in Fresno, Calif., demonstrated the proper use of knives at Kitchen & Bath Plus on West El Paso near Blackstone Avenue. The class was great for families cooking more at home because of the tough economy.

Not only did the class boost cooking skills, it also featured a student-cooked dinner perfect for summer: crostini (toasted bread topped with peach salsa and brie cheese), gazpacho, panzanella (a bread salad) and semifreddo (a semi-frozen mixture of cream, almond cookies and lemon juice topped with berry sauce).

Omega-3 rich salmon may help improve brain development in babies

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:45 PDT

For a smart baby, eat more fish.

Although fatty fish, such as salmon and tuna, are rich in heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, in recent years the government has warned pregnant women to restrict their intake to avoid exposure to high levels of mercury.

Butresearchers at the Harvard School of Medicine have found a diet high in omega-3 may outweigh the risks posed by environmental pollution.

Mussels exude briny flavor of the sea

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:45 PDT

Few seafoods bring to mind the taste of the sea as readily as mussels. These meaty mollusks are also a pleasure to cook - a quick burst of heat will open them, releasing natural juices that form a ready-made sauce.

Mussels marry equally well with the classic French trinity of garlic, herbs and white wine, Iberian accents like tomato, bell pepper and chorizo and Asian flavors like lemon grass, ginger and coconut milk.

Nowadays, we buy cultivated mussels that are farmed by "seeding" them onto a rope or rack suspended into the sea. Inexpensive and easy to cook, most are raised in Maine and Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Tidbits: Coffee-mate Collection; Thin Triscuits

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:45 PDT

COFFEE'S MULTIPLE MATES

There are places in the supermarket that Mr. Tidbit doesn't visit regularly, so he is sometimes surprised by how much they have grown since he last looked.

Such is the case with Coffee-mate, which he visited a few days ago after he learned of its new World Cafe Collection, which is, for now, three flavors: Hazelnut Biscotti, Italian Sweet Creme and Tiramisu. Guess how many flavors of liquid Coffee-mate that makes.

Ask a cook: Trans-fat-free cakes

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:45 PDT

Q. My mom used to make the best pound cakes and other goodies, but now with the trans-fat-free shortenings, her cakes have "sad streaks" or just crumble. Can you give any substitutions to make when using the no-trans-fat products?

Trans-fat-free baking is still a developing science. In New York City, where a trans-fat ban went into effect July 1, there actually is a Trans-Fat Help Center - headed by a former editor for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia - to help bakeries make the transition.

The center's work is focused on bulk baking used in the industry, but we may eventually get good information for home bakers from that project.

France risks losing wine production crown to Spain

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:38 PDT

France will lose its spot as the world's largest wine producer to Spain unless it can shake some of its outmoded traditions and boost sales to younger drinkers and consumers overseas, the country's independent wine producers say.

Screw tops, boxed wines, colorful easy-to-understand labels and sophisticated marketing - innovations pioneered by countries like Australia and South Africa - have helped global competitors elbow in on France's market share.

While Spain has adapted to the new trends, France hasn't and now looks set to fall behind, the Credoc research group says in a study done for the Vignerons Independants winemakers association.

Skip the pie and try a French clafouti instead

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:03 PDT

Americans have embraced plenty of four-star French desserts, including crepes, creme brulee and cream puffs. But the less glamorous clafouti remains something of a novelty.

That's too bad: It's so down-to-earth, easy to make and fun to say.

Clafouti (pronounced klah-foo-TEE) is a country-style dessert featuring fresh fruit baked in a sweet, puffy batter. Originally made in the Limousin region of France, some versions are cakelike while others, like The Kansas City Star's Patriotic Clafouti , are more like pudding .

Lost and found: beloved Key lime pie recipe

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:34 PDT

Chalk up another win for Cook's Corner sleuths: We've got the signature Key lime pie recipe from the Fern Inn in Islamorada, Fla., home of a renowned version of the South Florida favorite in the 1950s and '60s.

Reader Elizabeth Nichols remembered clipping it years ago, but alas, it was not to be found in The Miami Herald archives. We turned over the quest to our readers.

"The headline said 'Pie recipe "really" lost this time," but I'll bet I'm not the only reader who still has this clipping," said Bonnie J. Rothschild.