EATS

Blog content from Tonya Assid, a participant in the SMU Creative Writing Program's food writer's workshop.

For a very brief moment in life, I was a Central Market Foodie. A dream job? Let me say, an eye-opening experience into people and their obsession with food. I saw the gamut, from highly intelligent people so serious that their approach was more science than art, to the very out-of-touch, like the lady who asked "Does this ham contain pork?"

The responsibility of any supermarket promoter is to sell product -- to demonstrate what someone could do with, let's say, cauliflower or smoked duck breast. And of course suggest other ingredients that will make the most amazing dish every created.

So, let me put this out there. Why do you taste a sample? What makes you buy? Or are you just grazing the store?

"Store Tomatoes Stem End Down at Room Temp: Slows bacteria pick up and moisture exit through the stem scar." That's a great piece of advice this time of year from Christopher Kimball, founder of Cooks Illustrated. I didn't know about the bacteria thing, but I am constantly reminding people not to put tomatoes in the refrigerator, except after they're cut. Ruins their texture.

And here's a blueberry thought from DMN Food and Features editor Cathy Barber: Try them with feta. That's what she's doing this summer. It sounds like a great combination. You could also expand that by putting a salad around it and drizzling with oil and balsamic vinegar.

It's getting late for greens from the farmers markets, but I bought the prettiest large-size baggie full of frilly mustard greens from Coppell Farmers Market recently and married them with one of the 15 types of bacon you can now find on Central Market's new bacon menu in the meat department.

I got a couple pieces (can't remember the name) that were double-smoked, chopped them up and more or less followed Rachel Ray's recipe for braised mustard greens. For whole recipe, keep reading.

So it ain't gourmet. But if you have bored, hot kids, this may be a tip worth your while. This afternoon, I was reporting on an summer school program run by the Richardson school district. One of the modules for the program, for elementary schoolers, is "cooking." But they can't use a stove. Or an oven. Or even knives. So what can they do? They can -- no kidding -- make ice cream in zippered plastic bags. Details here.

Gentle chefs of Dallas, what is aioli? Does aioli mean flavored mayonnaise? No, it does not. So why do menus all over town call out "lemon aioli" or "red pepper aioli" when what arrives on the plate is just lemon-flavored mayo or red pepper-flavored mayo?

To make aioli, for those who were absent from culinary school that day, you mash a lot of garlic to a paste with some salt using a mortar and pestle, then stir in egg yolks, integrating them with the pestle, then slowly drizzle in olive oil, mixing with the pestle until it is an emulsion. A dash of lemon is optional. Technically aioli is a type of mayonnaise, but it is by definition very garlicky and it does not have the texture of a fluffy mayonnaise -- it's closer in texture to harissa, but perfectly smooth.

Mmmm...doesn't it sound great? With locally-grown artichokes? Or some wonderful, sweet, perfectly-cooked Gulf shrimp? Or farm-fresh string beans? Try it sometime!

Want to see how chef Richard Chamberlain makes a great steak, and learn how you can do it at home? Two years ago, DMN produced a terrific three-part video -- and I just watched it for the first time tonight. Chamberlain, chef-owner of Chamberlain's Steak and Chop House, first explains the various cuts. That by itself is worth the price of admission. Then he shows how to season a steak. This, for me, was most amazing -- he really seasons it. No namby-pamby sprinkling of salt; he salts those steaks like he means it. He doesn't stint on pepper, either. After that, it's all about caramelization. And heat. And letting the meat rest.

If this were in print, it would be a real clip 'n' save.

Here's the link.

If you're in the farmers market swing, you know pickler cucumbers are getting ready to come off their vines. Maybe you'd like to know what to do if you buy a bunch?

I just got a fun tweet on Twitter linking to Houston Press food writer Robb Walsh's easy method for making Kosher pickles on the HP blog. He's got pics and all that show how he brined and fermented the cukes into pickles - there's no cooking or boiling is involved. Check it out here.

In other locavore news, I saw my first Pecos cantaloupes earlier this week at Whole Foods Market. Too bad I managed to pick a not-very-good one. I'm hit-and-miss on melon selecting. Anybody got a surefire method for picking a good one?

The wild asparagus and morels from Tom Spicer's were fantastic. I blanched the asparagus and dressed it with a simple shallot vinaigrette. For the morels, I sweated shallots in butter, added the morels, cooked them a bit, added a little white wine, finished with a drop of cream and chopped parsley and tossed it with egg pappardelle. Delicious, though I should have used half the amount of pasta!

Though I had shopped at Jimmy's before, today was the first time I had a sandwich there -- a muffaletta, easily big enough for two. A friend had invited me, and we sat in the wonderful, Chianti-colored back room and ate our big messy sandwiches spread out on butcher paper, washed down with glasses of Tenuta Luisa cabernet franc. A perfect match! What fun! I love the green olives in the muffaletta.

Then we stopped in next door at Tom Spicer, where I picked up my dinner: graceful, tender, sweet wild asparagus from France (pricey at $12 the bunch, but I'm guessing great for a splurge) and a pint of beautiful morels from the apple orchards of Fresno, California. (Yes, a little dear too at $10, but that's my main course, and it'll be enough for two.) I'm thinking I'll saute the morels and toss them with some good pasta, and quickly blanche the asparagus and drizzle with a little vinaigrette as a first course. Shall I take a picture of it all once it's cooked?

So, what did you for Mother's Day? We took mom for a road trip to Dublin, Texas (more on that later) where my late grandmother lived. After paying our respects, we cruised through nearby Hico and had lunch at the famed Koffee Kup family restaurant.

Loved it, such a page out of small town Texas. We had a starter of hand-battered onion rings and then I moved on to chicken-fried chicken with gravy, broccoli, buttered corn, hot rolls and a slice of homemade chocolate meringue pie for dessert. (Followed by collapsing in the car.)

If you make ever make it out to visit, don't forget to check out Wiseman House Chocolates across the parking lot.

Koffee Kup, Highway 6 & Highway 281, Hico, TX, 254-796-4839

Photos by cwynn

Five years ago, you could barely find a Texas-grown strawberry. We were forced to settle for hard, under-ripe, tasteless orbs grown for their sturdy shipping qualities. Flavor? Meh.

Today, during a limited window, you can find red, ripe, juicy locally grown strawbs at farmers markets and at Whole Foods Market, where the Sig-O picked up a quart from Pittsburg in East Texas.

After an exquisite Mother's Day dinner of Calabrian eggplant parmesan and a Caesar salad worthy of the Caesar competition (he used to make the salad tableside at Il Sorrento), he brought out beautiful, red local berries drizzled in 80-year-old balsamic vinegar. Sheer heaven.

If you don't have 80-year-old balsamic sitting around, you can make a balsamic reduction with the cheaper stuff. Let it simmer over low heat till it reduces by about half and thickens. As for the local berries, because they are ripe when picked, you pretty much need to eat them the day you buy them. It's like the difference between local peaches and California baseballs, I mean, peaches. Hope you get chance to enjoy this rare, seasonal treat.

This weekend at the Dallas Farmers Market, Five Sixty executive chef Sara C. Johannes will lead a cooking class showcasing Asian flavors. On her menu will be Korean kalbi short ribs with kim chee, green Thai curried seafood with Japanese eggplant and a ginger-peach crumble. Although this won't be a hands-on class for participants, guests will get to sample Johannes' tasty creations. The class runs from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. this Saturday and costs $25 in advance, $30 at the door. For tickets, call 214-653-8088.

Do you ever buy a head of cauliflower, only to discover a few discolored spots when you go to cook it?

When this happens, I whip out my trusty Microplane zester and shave off the offending discoloration. Works like a charm, and it's easier than cutting.

"If it is truly discoloration and not mold, simply removing it with a microplane or a paring knife is sufficient," says registered dietitian Robin Plotkin.

But if it's mold, here's her food safety caveat: "Unlike cheese, mold on cauliflower may be not just be on the surface. The actual 'root' of the spore goes even deeper and cannot be 'cut' out or off. It's always best to throw molded food out to be 100% safe. As the old saying goes, 'When in doubt, throw it out.'"

Check out Robin's Web site at www.robinplotkin.com.

I came across these gorgeous lemons at Central Market today -- I had never seen anything like them. The gentleman working in produce told me they're called pink lemons, that he thought they were from California, and that this is not the first year they've had them. He also said when their skin starts to turn pink, they're ripe. Have you seen them before? They had no sign, no price, but he told me to use the same sticker code as Lisbon lemons, $1.99 per pound.

A quick spin through the Internet turned up a link at Melissa's, a well-known Los Angeles produce company. According to that site (and a few others) they're called variegated pink lemons.

The very green ones are sharp-tasting, but the pinker ones, which have pink flesh, are not quite as puckeringly tart as lemons (though not as sweet as Meyer lemons), with a lovely, almost grapefruity flavor. What do you like to do with them? Pink lemonade, anyone?

Surely there's a special wing in the Marketing Hall of Fame for getting people to spend money on something that doesn't work. If so, there may be a plaque for the baking soda folks. Sure it works for baking. But how about putting an open box in the fridge to absorb odors? The fine folks at Cook's Illustrated tested that idea using stinky cheese, sour milk, and spoiled fish and reported the results in the latest issue. The results were "inconclusive." Plus they say that some food scientists say it's not likely to work. A paste of baking soda does work on de-smelling a cutting board, though, the magazine says.

I had been meaning to check out Jimmy's Food Store for weeks, and it seems I chose exactly the right time. A sign on the deli counter indicated something to the effect that you could order burrata from Puglia, and it would arrive on March 23. "Do you have burrata?" I asked innocently, and the woman behind the counter shook her head. "We do!" said a gentleman (was that Jimmy? Is there a Jimmy? I'm so green!). "It just arrived. In fact," he said, "you'll be the first one to get some!"

How lucky am I? I bought some cherry tomatoes and basil, ran home with my treasure, and put it all together. Of course I wish I had some garden-ripe tomatoes, but we're not there yet, so I cut the cherries in half, sprinkled them with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, scattered with torn basil, and drizzled with olive oil, let it marinate a few minutes and poured it over the burrata.

And what burrata. I've never had one imported from Puglia, only from California's very good producers. But this blew them away -- so creamy, milky, rich, with an incredible texture. I'm eating it now with some crusty Empire bread and a glass of red wine.

So why I am blogging instead of eating? In case you want to run over there before dinner. Jimmy's is open till 7:30! You can be the second, or the third to get some. If you do, let us know how you like it.

Burrata from Puglia, 250 grams, $8.99 at Jimmy's Food Store.

This is so simple it knocks me out. Last night I dropped by Arcodoro and Pomodoro for an after-dinner drink. My spirit of choice is limoncello, which must be ice-cold to show its best. Out comes the barkeep with frosty glasses from the freezer, filled about half-way with water which, of course, had turned to ice.

With the iced glass, you get this very cool, cheap and easy presentation that keeps the spirit cold on top without diluting it. My companions got the herby, coffee-brown mirto, a Sardinian digestif made from blueberry-like berries.

When the ice melted enough, it popped to the top of the glass as the mirto slid to the bottom. This is about as cheap a thrill as you can find besides watching jets land at Love Field.

The Sig-O froze some half-water-filled glasses to see if you can do this at home, and the results are pictured above right. Looks good enough to drink.

Photo: Italian Wine Guy

If I were to keep only one book about coffee in my library, it would probably be Daniel Young's new "Coffee Love: 50 Ways to Drink Your Java." The slim volume is a terrific, cut-through-the-grounds primer on that drink we think we all know. Young explains how various levels of roasting affect flavor (a lighter roast keeps bright acidity; with dark roasts, the acidity drops and bitterness emerges), and basics about beans.

Young offers great advice about coffee makers. I was happy to see he loves the French press because that's what I've been using lately. (Validation!)

Best of all, the book focuses on how to make a great cup, whether it's espresso, filter-brewed, cold-brewed iced coffee or French press. (I learned something -- the water shouldn't be quite boiling for French press.) Even how to use a hatted filter press to make Vietnamese coffee. There are lots of great recipes, and a colorful dose of coffee culture along the way.

Budding barristas, take note: Young explains the difference between a cappuccino and a latte (it's not just the amount of milk), and how to make a proper espresso macchiato.

Coffee Love: 50 Ways to Drink Your Java, by Daniel Young; Wiley, $17.95.

The New York Times has a big article celebrating Whoopie Pies and the origin of their name (evidently Amish farmers in Pennsylvania, after a long day of work, would say "Whoopie!" if they found one of these cookie sandwich treats with cream filling in their lunch pails).

Nowhere does the article, which lingers on the geography of the treat in Pennsylvania and Maine (and, of course, New York), mention Whoopie Pies in Dallas. But it just so happens that a Spicy Pumpkin Whoopie Pies recipe by Stephanie Hollowell won First Place, Family in the Dallas Morning News Cookie Contest in 2005. And we have the recipe right here.

So, when's the last time you had a good Whoopie pie? And does anyone sell them here or do you have to make them yourself?

There is something to be said for simplicity in this day when so many restaurants are falling over themselves to make dishes bigger, better and more complicated. Cheese maven Paula Lambert (Mozzarella Co.) gathered some food journalists together to break bread with cookbook author and New York Times go-to person for food matters Jewish, Joan Nathan. But instead of a big, splashy meal, she kept the menu simple and satisfying.

Paula started with a tomato-and-orange soup with baking soda added to cut the acid - better than La Mad's tomato-basil soup ever thought about being. Then we helped ourselves to a buffet of ricotta-and-herb-stuffed roast chicken (the cheese-herbs were tucked under the skin), roasted Roma tomatoes (where in the world did she find them this sweet this time of year?), herbed carrots and a savory Gruyere bread pudding.

This was definitely a company menu, but with so much easily done ahead and "plating" only the soup, Paula could spend time with her guests, not fretting in the kitchen. Dessert was ice cream and cookies, including the latter made by Pegasus' Teresa Gubbins to look like (and taste like) Neapolitan ice cream, right down to the maraschino cherries. And for appetizers? Why Mozzarella Co. cheese and crackers of course.

In the course of doing some research about fish, I consulted Monterey Bay Aquarium's excellent web site and turned up this cool free app for iPhone: mobile Seafood Watch. Now if you're at Central Market and can't decide whether to cook Arctic char or grouper tonight, the Seafood Watch app tells you what's sustainable (farmed Arctic char is a "best choice"; grouper is on the "avoid" list). There are tabs for different U.S. regions, and even a sushi guide with Japanese names and translations, for those sticky situations where you're hesitating between aji (Spanish mackerel) and ankimo (monkfish liver).

Go to the iPhone app store and search for seatood watch (in two words). It pops right up, and it's free. There are also Seafood Watch apps available for other handheld devices at mobile.seafoodwatch.org. Or you can go to the Seafood Watch website and download printable mini-guides.

Two weeks ago, I blogged about visiting Paula Lambert at the Mozzarella Co. and made a reference to a cottage cheese project she was working on. Paula showed Cathy Barber and me four versions of a new product being developed by her general manager and director of operations, Mitchell Whitley: cottage cheese. But what cottage cheese! It's the first cheese Mitchell has made by herself, and she offered us tastes of all four versions. One was curds finished with cream, the second was finished with creme fraiche, the third with half-cream-half-creme-fraiche, and the fourth was like the third, but with a different amount of salt. Paula explained that she was developing them for a chef -- she wouldn't say for whom, but she told us he chose the fourth (half cream, half creme fraiche), pictured at right.

Who could the chef be, I asked Cathy as we left. "Hmm," she said, and thought for about half a second. "I'll bet it's Kent Rathbun."

Right you are, Cathy! I just spotted on Rathbun's Blue Plate Kitchen's menu online (both the lunch and dinner menus) the dish: Young's Farm "Butter Wedge," Paula's Cottage Cheese, Green Goddess Dressing. It's not available for retail sale to the public yet, but Paula says it will be, once the 90-day "exclusive" she promised Rathbun expires.

Meanwhile, has anyone out there tried the "Butter Wedge" at Blue Plate Kitchen? Do tell!

OK, guys, time to turn your attention away from Whole Foods for a bit. Margie wanted to know about the new store in the old Carnival location on Henderson, so here you go.

It's called Newflower Farmers Market (Sunflower in other markets), and the opening date is March 18. You will forget by then; I will try to remind you.

Here's the deal: These people are early risers. There will be free breakfast goodies at 6:30 a.m. (you can have my portion), followed by the official opening at 7 a.m. Now I will quote from the release:

The first 200 customers on opening day will receive a FREE reusable shopping bag filled with Newflower's healthy groceries, valued at over $50, with any in-store purchase. Customers are encouraged to arrive early, as the line typically forms hours before the store opening at 7a.m.

That's two weeks from today so you probably don't need to rush over quite yet. Margie, if you make it, report back to us.

Read more about Newflower here.

Staff Writer Mariana Greene, a longtime Old East Dallas denizen, weighs in:

There is so much curiosity about the new Whole Foods Market opening Monday across the street from Lakewood Country Club that store management had to double the preview tours today and Saturday. But even that didn't satisfy the requests.

"We finally just had to cut it off," says Scott Simons, executive coordinator and director of marketing, himself a former East Dallas boy now based in Austin.

Nine homeowner associations, nonprofit workhorses like the Lakewood library and the Wilkinson Center, local civic groups and just-plain hard-headed longtime customers were invited for the sneak peek. I fall into the latter category, though I was invited as a member of the media. In fact, my Morning News colleagues were warning Simons and other WF tour guides about my stubborn, suspicious mindset as I walked through the doors of the new Lakewood store, which opens to the public Monday morning. The new location, where Gaston Avenue and Abrams intersect, was a Safeway when I settled in old East Dallas. I shopped at the Whole Foods on lower Greenville Avenue when it was still Bluebonnet. I don't like my world to change.

Attention fans of the "old" Whole Foods Market on Greenville: The store closes for good at 5 p.m. Sunday. Then, at 10 a.m. Monday, check out the new digs at Abrams and Gaston, where the old Minyard store was. Get there early for grand-opening festivities, and watch Eats on Friday for a preview of the new store.

As it turns out, Tina Danze's story about how to cook duck got mixed reviews. Apparently some people will eat duck but they don't want to cook it.
What do you say? Happy to have the info, or did you skip right past?

Friday through Sunday, stop by any Central Market location for their Festival of Chocolate. They'll have demos and sampling throughout the store.
Also check out the new fondue kits, with two kinds of chocolate, dried fruit, strawberries and skewers. Plus, you can now get cacao nibs in the bulk bins, if you want to make nibby cookies or other sweets.

We were in charge of bringing dessert to a Super Bowl party last night. A sane person would have just stopped by Eatzi's, but we decided to make it complicated (low self-esteem) and bake tarts from scratch.

Here's an action shot of browning the meringue on the lemon curd tart. Proved to be an interesting combination with beer and chips to say the least.

That's the headline on Maria Halkias' story in the Business section of the Sunday paper about the trend toward eating more at home among North Texans. No matter what, people still have to eat. And one solution is to eat out less, eat in more. Shoppers are also taking advantage of coupons and specials.

My favorite quote in the story comes from Gantt Bumstead, co-president of Lubbock-based United Supermarkets, which owns Market Street: "I'm glad we're selling food rather than fur coats." Check out the full story here.

Goji, too.
How do I know?
This, from our friends at Jell-O.

We wanted to let you know about two delicious new flavors of Jell-O Sugar-Free Gelatin and Jell-O Sugar-Free Pudding which will be hitting grocery stores in February with a suggested retail price of $3.19 per six pack.

Jell-O Sugar-Free Gelatin with Antioxidants is available in two refreshing new flavors: Strawberry Açai and Raspberry Goji, both at only 10 calories per serving and great sources of vitamins A & E.

New dessert-inspired Jell-O Sugar-Free Pudding in Cinnamon Roll and Boston Cream Pie offers a whole lot of taste at 60 calories per serving (also a good source of calcium)

I might have to check out that Cinnamon Roll pudding. For purely professional reasons, of course.

It's called the Bacon Explosion, and it calls for 2 pounds of bacon and 2 pounds of Italian sausage. Concocted just before Christmas by two members of a Kansas City barbecue team, it has been the recipe linked 'round the world.

It basically consists of a sheet of woven bacon strips (lattice-style, like a pie crust) that are rolled up with sausage and crisped bacon inside, like a jellyroll. That gets slathered with barbecue sauce and smoked. It contains at least 5,000 calories, according to the story, and 500 grams of fat. You can see it and read about it in the New York Times here.

I didn't make it to the SouperBowl challenge this weekend at NorthPark, but PR type Kristen Gibbins shared a copy of the winning recipe: Three Pear Soup, by Debbie Penick.
I say thumbs-up to any recipe that is topped with a whirl of brie and whipping cream.

Check it out.

Check it out: Kim Pierce takes you on a guided tour of Zituna market. Read her story here.
I'm going to go this weekend and stock up on flatbreads. Anybody have a favorite find from Zituna?

What a great opportunity to get up close and personal with some of Dallas' top chefs and learn the tricks of their trade - for a rock-bottom price. The Rosewood Mansion's own John Tesar leads the first class in the Winter 2009 Farmers Market Chef Cooking Classes this Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Market Resource Center of the Dallas Farmers Market. Cost is $25 advance, $30 at the door.

In a time of fiscal anxiety, these classes continue to be one of the best buys in town, year in and year out. And it's a win-win: Each chef prepares a menu inspired by the market's produce. Good for you. Good for the market.

Check out the others lined up for the coming weeks:

Jan. 17: David Uygur, Lola The Restaurant
Jan. 24: David Holben, Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse
Jan. 31: Grant Morgan, Dragonfly, Hotel Za Za
Feb. 7: Scott Gottlich, Bijoux

I'm getting hungry already. The classes are sponsored by the local chapter of the American Institute of Wine and Food and the Friends of the Farmers Market. Click here for more schedule details. Click here to go straight to online registration.

Remember the old Mad-Libs game? It starts with a framework of sentences with blanks, then you drop in random words. And it comes out funny. Here's an online version. I could swear the McCormick spice folks are messin' with our minds in just this way with "McCormick® Flavor Forecast™ 2009 Identifies Top 10 Flavor Pairings"

Toasted Sesame and Root Beer? Mint and Quinoa? Smoked Paprika and Agave Nectar? Seriously? "Top flavor pairings?" Lotsa people are going to be eating these things this year? Seriously? I loves me my root beer, but am I gonna be dropping in sesame seeds the way southerners put their salted peanuts into their RC Cola bottles? I'm thinking: Not.

But read what sure looks like it's supposed be serious here.

Having blogged about using Peter Schaar's historical chili recipe with elk here, I'm ready to report the results.

Sublime, baby, just sublime.

Although the cauldron of cooking chili in the photo looks reddish - that might have been right after we added the ancho paste - it ended up a deep brown. The flavors were complex and intense, with the only difference (from Schaar's, made with pastured local beef), slightly denser meat. A squeeze of lime juice added to the complexity.

We paired our chili with Corn-Kits muffins (savory, no sugar added) and the 2006 Lost Angel Petite Sirah, a "heavenly" complement to the chili's beefy, chile flavors. (The wine is about $12 at places like Majestic, Andrew's Fine Beverages, Kindred Spirits and Two Bucks.) The only real problem with the chili - and Schaar warned us about this - is the searing step: makes a mess on your stove. Worth it.

My wife and I have a New Year's Eve tradition that avoids the crowds: We pick out some gourmet foods that we don't normally eat, put a fire in the fireplace, find some movie to watch, and toast the new year by toasting marshmallows. This year, we'd been watching a lot of food shows lately and saw both Emeril and Rachael Ray doing rather different deep dish pizzas. I added a quick check to see what the food wizards at Cooks Illustrated suggested. And Googled for "Chicago deep dish pizza recipe."

Head for the jump to see what I pulled from them all -- to create an incredible pizza that I won't claim beat Pizza Uno's best, but I'm a long way from Chicago.

Renaissance chili man Peter Schaar's chili is not your average Texas bowl of red. The Dallas garden designer and retired mathematician decided to research chili's roots and from that developed his own interpretation of authentic chili, which is more like a caldo de res (Mexican beef soup). Not only that, he uses piquin chiles and Mexican oregano from his garden.

Luckily, you can find those ingredients and the others in local stores. Plus, the video with the story shows step-by-step how easy his chili is to make.

When I wrote the story, the Sig-O and I got to taste Schaar's final version, which just knocks you back with layers of beef-and-chile flavor. (Check out the story here.) We also made our own, which is pictured above cooking on the stove, using lean, velvet-textured elk meat from a friend who is a hunter. After giving the chili the requisite 24 hours in the fridge, we're going to break it out tonight. Talk about anticipation.

Photo by Italian Wine Guy

Gina Stipo is an American who followed her dream to Italy, where she studied cooking and eventually opened Ecco La Cucina cooking school near Siena (you can visit). It's owned and operated by Gina and her sister, Mary, who lives here in Dallas.

Each year, Gina brings also her cooking lessons to the United States, and she's scheduled several classes this month locally:

• The Italian Club of Dallas hosts her at 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 10 for a cooking class; $65. 14865 Inwood, Addison; 972-342-8308.


• She'll do a food-and-wine-pairing seminar at Corner Wines, 7 p.m. on Jan. 19; $35. 4017 Preston, south of Spring Creek Parkway, Plano; 972-403-9463.


• Then she leads two Central Market cooking classes:


• "From the Hills of Tuscany," 6:30 to 9 p.m. Jan. 29 with a menu that features dishes like wild boar ragu with semolina gnocchi and flan of Tuscan cheese with pear salad. Just think of this as dinner with wine. Call 214-361-5754 to register.


• She repeats the Tuscany class at the Fort Worth Central Market, same time, on Jan. 30. Call 817-377-9005 to register.

I'm not a big potato salad person, but I liked Tom Hudgins' Vladivostok Potato Salad so much at his Christmas party in McKinney that I made it for a subsequent Slow Food Dallas get-together, where it was also a hit. Those are the main ingredients and the dressing (counterclockwise from top left): dressing, carrots, peas, egg and onion, and of course the potatoes.

If you're casting about for something to serve on New Year's Day when most folks are driving their Barcaloungers around the living room, put this on the menu with easy food like take-out fried chicken and, for something green, gaucamole and chips.

Tom is the husband of Saveur contributor Sharon Hudgins, and he created the salad when the couple lived in Vladivostok. Sharon went on to write a story for the magazine about their foodie experiences there.

The secret ingredient that puts this potato salad over the top is crab meat. Most people don't taste it so much as experience it as a deepening of flavor - the way anchovies work in a good Caesar dressing. Of course I made a few changes: I mixed the dressing as one, rather than doing part as a layer and - gasp - I omitted the caviar. I further substituted Greek-style yogurt for the sour cream to make a pass at less fat. That's the salad being mixed (above), and here's the link.

From the AP:

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Three G&J cocoa products packaged for Christmas sale are being recalled because they may contain the industrial chemical melamine.

The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection says the products were sold nationwide at Shopko and Big Lots stores.

They include G&J Hot Cocoa Stuffer, G&J His and Hers Hot Cocoa Set and G&J Cocoa in French vanilla and double chocolate flavors.

More details here.

Then click here.

If you still have cookie baking to do, you have to read today's New York Times story about baking and butter (which also mentions Dallas lawyer Susan Abbott). Here's an excerpt:

"The most common mistakes made by home bakers, professionals say, have to do with the care and handling of one ingredient: butter. Creaming butter correctly, keeping butter doughs cold, and starting with fresh, good-tasting butter are vital details that professionals take for granted, and home bakers often miss."

If you've already made your cookies and they flopped, this story will help you understand why so it never has to happen again. Check it out here.

Yes, I know. They look like a couple of lemons that matured downwind from the Chernobyl nuclear plant. That's a regular lemon in front. The Sig-O brought these huge citrus fruits back from Southern California.

The skin exudes a musky, but unmistakably, citrus aroma. I haven't cut into them yet because I don't know what to do with them. Should I remove the zest? Candy the skin? What's inside, and how do I use that? I'm hoping there's a chef or just someone who's familiar with this monster fruit who will enlighten me. Meanwhile, they're great conversation starters.

If you're a holiday baker, don't miss Valerie Jarvie's story here on the 13th Dallas Morning News-Central Market Cookie Contest.

I can't believe after all these years - I was there for the first one - that cooks are still coming up with fantastic, interesting, new recipes, such as Chocolate Pistachio Shortbread and Rustic Nut Cookies. And how about that Sandra Entrican from Carrollton? She's the decorated cookie queen, having won or placed in the category nine years in a row.

Check out the top three recipes in every category with Jarvie's story, and if that doesn't give you enough of a sugar high, you can always turn to the archives for past winners.

The Wine & Food Foundation of Texas has just announced the launch of its virtual cookbook, Plate & Vine. This is an online annual subscription cookbook, costing $20 for foundation members, $30 for the rest of us.

It includes not only recipes from some of Texas' top chefs, but an interactive cooking and party planning tool; a glossary of cooking terms, techniques and ingredients; and a feature that lets you adjust the number of servings on any recipe, among other things. New recipes and enhanced features will be added so it's not static. Plus, proceeds go to the foundation's scholarships and programs.

Featured chefs include Alma Alcocer-Thomas (Jeffrey's, Austin), Jeff Blank and Robert Rhoades (Hudson's on the Bend, Austin), Hugo Ortega (Hugo's, Houston), Paul Peterson (The Gage Hotel's Cafe Cenizo, Marathon), and from Dallas: Avner Samuel (Aurora), John Tesar (Rosewood Mansion restaurant), David Bull (Bolla, Stoneleigh Hotel) and Kent Rathbun (Abacus, Jasper's).

Is this a glimpse of the future for "green" books? Order at www.winefoodcooking.com.

Not sure where this prized East Asian citrus fruit is grown, but I have to assume it's pretty far away. Say, across the Pacific. Each year, Central Market seems to stock yuzu for about a week. Then it's gone.

Yuzu juice is an essential ingredient in Japanese ponzu sauce (citrus and soy sauce), which is sublime with salmon sashimi. More often in North Texas, ponzu becomes a lemon-juice-soy-sauce blend.

So I brought home my first fresh yuzu ($2.99 a pound), which looks kind of like a pale, nubbly tangerine, and its pulp was mostly dried up inside. Still, I managed to extract its meager juice into a bowl, adding lemon juice and soy sauce. Even that little bit made such a difference in the sauce, adding almost a mandarin orange scent and flavor.

A good foodie lesson, yes. But I don't know that I'd buy it again. I drizzled the sauce over fried tofu. Next, I'm going to fiddle with some Bergamot oranges somebody sent me. Its skin is the source of beramot fragrance.

Never one to waste a good turkey carcass (mine from a 20-pound bird), I broke it down into two pots with some onion, shallots and peppercorns (all I had on hand of traditional stock fixin's). Simmered it until the meat lost its flavor, removed the bones, and simmered it several hours more till it was reduced by half to a dark brown. Strained it, put it in the fridge to cool and skimmed of the fat later.

Then I pulled out Helen Chen's basic Egg Drop Soup recipe, which follows, and made it with my turkey broth as a base. I added a little soy sauce and shredded turkey for a comforting apres-Thanksgiving soup. You could also add mushrooms.

This year, the Splendid Table Turkey Confidential 2008 airs on KERA-FM (90.1) from 10 a.m. to noon on Thanksgiving day. This is the live, holiday edition of Lynne Rosetto Kasper's regular Sunday show, The Splendid Table.

Lynne lines up turkey experts, tosses out Thanksgiving ideas and helps callers with "turkey triage." In years past, I have turned it on and listened in while preparing the big repast. It's always entertaining, and if you really, really, really get stuck, you can call in.

If that doesn't work, the Butterball Hotline is operational from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 1-800-BUTTERBALL. Of course, they'll only talk turkey.

Here's a deal for kitchen-gear junkies. For every $50 you spend on items in Williams-Sonoma stores this Friday through Sunday, you'll get a $10 coupon to use after the holidays. Click here to find a store near you. This should not be hard to pull off, no way. Those 12 Days of Christmas plates are pretty cool.

Christopher Kimball, the foodie wonk who gave the world Cook's Illustrated magazine and the America's Test Kitchen TV and cookbook series, told NPR listeners that the thing people fear most about Thanksgiving cooking is the pie crust.

(Believe it or not, we discussed this last night at Dallas Yoga Center. My teacher, confident of her crust's texture, bemoaned that her crimping needed work.)

Kimball's secret: vodka.

"Vodka does two things," Kimball said. First, "it does not react with proteins in flour to form gluten - because gluten means tough."

And since alcohol makes up nearly half of the vodka, he said, it will evaporate as it cooks. "You can add more total liquid," Kimball said - but since the vodka will evaporate in the oven, "you end up with a dough that's light and flaky."

Get the whole story, including a recipe for pumpkin-sweet potato pie, here at npr.org.

Dallas may have yet another TV food celeb on slow simmer.

Here's a link to Screen Door and Cafe Italia owner Scott Jones' audition reel for season five of The Next Food Network Star.

Watch your apron, Lisa Garza.

A nugget from MSNBC:

Nestlé Prepared Foods Company in Springville, Utah is recalling approximately 879,565 pounds of frozen chicken meals that may contain foreign materials, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said. The objects were identified as small pieces of hard plastic, which were discovered after the company received consumer complaints and a report of one injury.

The meals are a variety of Lean Cuisines. Details here.

It's nice to see science used in the case of the truly practical. Here's the explanation from the official RSC release:

The judgement followed an enquiry from an Englishman living in the Rockies in the USA who emailed the RSC seeking scientific advice on the chemistry of the dish following a string of kitchen flops.

Ian Lyness had contacted the RSC to get an explanation for why his attempts at cooking traditional Yorkshire puddings in Colorado had gone flat.

Here's the link to the details. I'll put the recipe at the jump.

Back in late August, I was boohooing that the Dallas CM didn't have a salt bar like Southlake's, which I wrote about here. Finally, Dallas has caught up. I noticed a few visits ago that the Dallas CM has installed just such a salt bar in its bulk section.

For Dallas foodies, this is a great addition - and an economical one, too. You can buy the tiniest amount, just what you need, instead of a whole box of a salt you're not sure you'll like. For those of you who pooh-pooh this as hysterics (salt is salt), there are differences, from the shape (rectangular crystals to flakes), which affects how a salt melds into a dish, to flavor nuances provided by trace minerals.

Holiday idea: Buy a good quality unsalted butter, like Falfurrias from East Texas, soften it a bit and blend in some chunky salt crystals. As the butter melts on rolls or potatoes, you get this cool, salty zing in some bites.

BTW, as you go about your holiday cooking, remember that the bulk bin section is a great place to save money. Whether it's a particular spice you're looking for, cornmeal or nuts, you can buy only the amount you need.

Seriously. Mostly.
From my e-box, a news release from Texas Tech:

See, the problem is, most turkeys carry a bacteria called Clostridium perfringens - a common cause of food poisoning, said Brashears, director of Texas Tech's International Center for Food Industry Excellence.

While cooking turkey to 165 degrees will kill the living C. perfringens, Brashears warned their spores will survive a trip through the oven. And while those spores aren't harmful if eaten, they will return to their vegetative state if warm turkey meat is left too long.

Bottom line: Don't leave the turkey out all day...

More details at the jump.

Local cooking teacher Anne Legg helped assemble this collection of budget ideas based on dollar-store finds. I didn't get to try the Oyster Spread, but those who did swear it's a good one.
The picture at left shows jicama sticks dusted with Pico Piquin seasoning.
Anne and other foodies offer the best advice on dollar stores: Go there first and see what you can find. (I saw red peppers two for 99 cents a couple of weeks ago at the 99 Cents Only Store.) THEN wrap your shopping at the regular store.

Julie Palmer of Keller has been grinding her own wheat and baking bread "for a long time," she says. "My family and friends have always said that it's the best bread they ever tasted."

So this year, Julie decided to take her bread (seen at right) to the State Fair of Texas. She entered the "Bake for the Cure" competition, sponsored by Fleischmann's Yeast, and she took the top prize for "Blue Ribbon Bread" among 199 contestants. (Regina L. Farris won the State Fair's other Fleischmann's baking category, for "batter bread" that requires no kneading or multiple rise times.)

Now her yeast-bread recipe goes to the national competition, where she is up against the other top winners from the 50 states. The grand prize winner will receive $1,000 -- but the best news is that for every baking recipe submitted nationwide, Fleischmann's donates $10 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure (up to $300,000 in 2008).

To see Julie's winning bread recipe, go to the jump...

Cindy Ethridge sent this picture of something neither she nor I have seen before: tomato seeds that have already begun to sprout inside the tomatoes. She tells me she bought these at Lemley's at the Dallas Farmers Market recently, and when she cut into the first one, she thought it was full of worms and threw it in the sink. With closer inspection, she realized it was sprouting. OK, foodies or farmers, what's going on here? Is this just a tomato that's super-eager to get on with reproducing?

If you've never had the pleasure of an evening at Lola the Restaurant in Uptown, you have missed one of Dallas' premier dining experiences. Executive chef David Uygur (pronounced U-gur) has a gift for combining classic and seasonal ingredients in new, pleasurable ways that have won praise from foodies.

Meanwhile his spouse, Jennifer Uygur, has carved her own niche as the beer and wine manager of Central Market Dallas, and also as current leader of the Slow Food Dallas convivium.

So when the two teamed up for the first time to lead a cooking class at CM on Monday evening, no wonder "The Chef and the Wine Lover" sold out.

Today's Taste cover on Greek festival foods should make you very, very hungry for all things phyllo.

Luckily, the season's first such event, the Greek Festival of Dallas, is just over a week away. The Mid-cities Greek Festival follows on the weekend of Oct. 10, and the Fort Worth Greek Festival arrives the weekend of Nov. 7.

Be sure to see our recipes for homestyle Greek dishes, plus a list of tips on how best to negotiate the Dallas festival if you're a first-time attendee.

Above: Kathy Naftis with her Chicken Kapama dish (DMN photo by Evans Caglage)

Here's a news release about some interesting research:

Copper-bottomed guarantee for safe shellfish in restaurants

Putting brass where your money is could be a guarantee of safety according to researchers looking at the dangers of eating raw fish and shellfish in seafood restaurants, scientists heard today at the Society for General Microbiology's Autumn meeting being held this week at Trinity College, Dublin.

The Asian diet traditionally includes lots of raw fish and shellfish, and diners and restaurateurs are aware of the risks of food poisoning posed by contaminating bacteria. In Korea between 2003 and 2006 around 12% of food poisoning cases were due to a type of bacteria called Vibrio, whose family includes the microbe that causes cholera. Now Korean scientists have come up with a simple and effective way of making sure that shellfish is safe - put a brass plate at the bottom of the fish tank.

More details at the jump.

Some of you with kids might have made a smooth transition to the back-to-school craziness. I'm still getting there. And school lunches (groan!) can make or break my morning routine. So I'm usually scouting around for good ideas, especially because I have a kid who likes his food to look and taste good. This weekend, I'm paying attention to the Food Network's ideas for kid-friendly lunches, such as ham club sandwich sliders and chicken salad rolls. (Actually, I've been using chicken salad as an option: as a filling for a wrap.) The suggestions for breakfast and after-school snacking seem pretty appealing, too.

Anyone read the September issue of Gourmet yet? It's all about tackling Paris on a budget. Beyond the anticipated bistro recipes and recommendations for affordable hotels, it also includes a few winsome essays by good writers on their revelations in and feelings toward Paris, and Colman Andrews offers an insightful look into the city's wine bar culture.

Not surprisingly, my favorite piece is editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl's account of eating her way through relatively inexpensive Parisian restaurants for a week. I'm always happy when Reichl comes out of critic retirement every couple of years to write about new dining adventures. Her style never abandons her. Here's one paragraph:

"I've never seen anything quite like Blanqui's carpaccio of pig's foot, a mosaic of flavor and texture in which each bite is slightly different, so that you keep eating, fascinated, until it is gone. Fat white asparagus came topped with an evanescent curl of foam, as if a wave had just crashed on the plate. I took a bite, expecting brine, and experienced pure Parmigiano."

Anyway, it dawned on me that we haven't talked much about national food magazines. For food-oriented folks, which magazines you read can be something akin to a personality test. So let's hear it: Are you more of a Gourmet person, or a Bon Appetit person, or both? Food and Wine? Saveur? Cook's Illustrated? Something more afield, like Olive or Donna Hay? Curious to see which ones you all most appreciate and respect.

If you think your kitchen is too small to be able to do any decent cooking in it, you need advice from chef Jennifer Schaertl (right).

Today's Taste section has a story about Jennifer and her projects for making "Gourmet Meals in Crappy Little Kitchens." From her website, crappylittlekitchens.com, there's a link to her cooking videos on YouTube, too. Check them out!

(Dallas Morning News photo by G.J. McCarthy)

Fort Worth resident Emily Almaguer has been named one of a dozen finalists in Cooking Light magazine's Ultimate Reader Recipe Contest.

Submissions had to be lower in fat and calories than traditional recipes and had to contain one or more ingredients from contest sponsors. Ms. Almaguer was selected for her entree, Hidden Rainbow Albondigas, her version of a traditional, homestyle Mexican meatballs dish that may be served as a soup or as a casserole.

The 12 contenders will be brought to Cooking Light's HQ in Birmingham, Ala., for a Sept. 18 cook-off in the mag's test kitchens. The grand prize: a cool $20,000, plus $5,000 donated to the charity of your choice. A $5,000 prize also will awarded to each winner in the contest's individual course categories: Starters and Drinks; Entrees; Sides and Salads; and Desserts.

What does it mean to be on a budget these days? I'll tell you what it means at my house: eggs. As I wait for those checks that are "in the mail," I've been making do with on-hand ingredients.

For one dish, I cut up many-days-old bread and added it to some eggs beaten with a touch of half-and-half, sauteed onions, grated cheddar and leftover sun-dried tomatoes. 'Baked it for about 10 minutes and voila! A savory bread pudding.

Eggs also were the anchor for Jacques Pepin's Egg and Tomato Gratin (more onions, garlic, canned tomatoes, eggs and cheese). I also regularly make huevos rancheros and breakfast tacos with eggs.

Anyone else finding eggs to be a great fall-back?

Good Deal Food Network star Dave Lieberman will appear on Channel 4 KDFW-TV at 8:50 a.m. today. He will demo one of his new tapas recipes, Fresh Chorizo and Piquillo Pepper Bites With Shaved Manchego Cheese, finished with Spanish olive oil.

Afterward he'll go to Channel 8 WFAA-TV where he will demo Lemon Poached Shrimp With Spicy Gazpacho. This demo will take place after 9:30 a.m.; stay tuned for the show time.

The Environmental Working Group ranks 45 produce items from highest pesticide load to lowest. Sad to say, peaches top the list, with the highest amount of pesticide.
Looking at the list, it's easy to develop your own mental cheat sheet. Things you eat whole -- peaches, apples and the like -- are more likely to contain pesticide residue than things you peel -- onions, avocados and pineapple, for instance.
Find out more here.

Do you like to watch? Great, we've got video. Check out some of the latest food-related projects from the Dallas Morning News video team.

• John's Cafe owner's garden is a fresh-food paradise

• Thw Grape's Brian Luscher shows how to grill a flank steak

• Natsumi owner Natalie Nguyen has a chill approach to green living

Photo of John Spyropoulos (John's Cafe) and his son-in-law Mike Niotis by Natalie Caudill / DMN

So you're a bride and you're dreaming of your big day (I would say "your perfect day" but I don't believe in that silliness.) Anyhoo, you're thinking, "Wow. I want to have a classic, plaid cake on my big day that may or may not be the most important day of my life, but in either case will definitely be special." Awwww! So you give your baker this picture. But (and this is a true story) your baker gives you back this.

Meet my new favorite blog Cake Wrecks, "When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong."

Some of the cakes might seem familiar this like this one, for instance. That's because it was created right here in Rowlett and was featured on NeighborsGo.

Everything's bigger in Texas!

I sent my story about the chicken-fried steak at Mary's Cafe to a bunch of foodie friends in a global chat group (who are often amused by what we do in Texas), and Rachel Laudan sent this reply:

Another Texas destination to put on my list. You know, Kim, reading this it occurs to me that chicken fried steak is in fact first cousin to the milanesa of Mexico (and of much of Latin America). You almost never see recipes for milanesa because (a) everyone here knows how to cook it and (b) those writing cookbooks for American or other foreign audiences want something more Mexican. But it's a standby in comida corrida (quick dinner) places, small restaurants, families etc. No gravy. And usually breadcrumbed as well as dipped in flour. I have a friend who serves it with a salad of honeydew in vinaigrette.

OK, The Dallas Cook Book is also about food and the food business. But what's intriguing is Amy's historical cookbook collection which includes an original edition of the 1901 Lone Star Cook Book, issued a few years ago as a reprint by the Culinary Trust, an adjunct to the International Association of Culinary Professionals, otherwise known as IACP. Amy doesn't actually work at Sevy's - unless you count all the time she spends taking care of chef-owner and hubby Jim Severson.

Here's part of today's post that caught my eye:

I've always said that for a big city, Dallas is a small town. I found a copy of Cocktails to Coffee (1936), by the Dallas Council of Jewish Women at Half-Price Books one day, and since then have wondered if anyone's treasured family recipes are within.

Here's a roll call of active contributors: Mrs. Milton Loeb, Mrs. Helen Haas, Mrs. Julius Adler, Mrs. I. Levy, Mrs. Chas. A Levi, Mrs. Albert Kramer, Mrs. Gus Roos, Mrs. Irvine Weil. Anyone you recognize?

Ring a bell with anyone? Now I'm curious.

So what are those half-moons sizzling away in the pot of oil? Fried green tomato wedges, battered with stone-ground, organic cornmeal. The occasion was a family celebration of Jim Dorff's bishop coronation. (Is that what Methodists call it?) To the family, he's better known as my cousin's husband.

We were celebrating with abandon and much food when one of the younger cousins (we had four generations present) expressed a desire for fried green tomatoes. So cousin Barbara got some, and I nabbed fried-tomato duty. Mind you, I've never made fried tomatoes before, and it took three batches to get them just right: crunchy and tart with a fine cornmeal crust. And while you're at it, fry up some okra. We did that, too.

The cool thing is, with all this interest in local produce, you can find green tomatoes at many farmers markets. My cuz, who lives in McKinney, went to a stand in nearby Princeton. I've seen 'em at the Dallas Farmers Market and others, as well as in stores like Central Market.

This week jalapenos from Mexico are suspected in the recent salmonella crisis.
Central Market has already announced a voluntary recall of fresh jalapenos and any prepared foods made from them (pico de gallo, for instance).

The September issue of ShopSmart, Consumer Reports' cooler sibling, is mostly about shopping for food.
Scariest moment: They tallied up the fat grams and calories a dedicated sampler could amass on a trip through Sam's Club. (In fact they did their research at a Sam's in Austin.) Hypothetical Sampler would put away nibbles of 20 items, from a mini cream puff to some beef jerky, washing it down with the likes of frozen lemonade and a sip of fruit smoothie.
Total upon checkout: 998 calories, 29.46 grams of fat.
Moving on. The magazine also tested Debbie Meyer Green Bags, the infomercial sensation that promised to save you hundreds of dollars in produce. Come on, you know you're been tempted.
Save your money. ShopSmart says the bags only extended the shelf life of bananas. Other produce items fared better in Ziploc bags or supermarket produce bags.

"Local" is relative in a place like Dallas. I spent a couple of hours Saturday morning -- a lot of it in the car -- scooping up local fare.
First stop was the organic farmers market hosted twice a month at Eden's Organic Garden Center in Balch Springs. No whining --- this funky spot is nestled in the crook of where 635 meets I-20, so it's fairly easy to get to. The market itself is tiny but what's there is worth finding.
I scooped up some Porgo (pork-goat sausage) from JuHa Ranch, near Corsicana. They also sell beef and eggs, all ethically raised. (Tip: E-mail them by noon Thursday before the next market day on Aug. 2 to make sure they bring what you're looking for.)
JuHa's chicken livers are $2.90 a pound. They didn't have any this time, but I feel some chicken-liver crostini coming on in August.
We also bought some smoked salsa and organic bread from Bistro Mama's, from Corsicana.
From there we headed farther east, to Ham Orchards, just past Terrell. I was tempted to buy a half-bushel of peaches, but I settled for a nice bag. They weren't quite ripe, so they're progressing nicely on my kitchen counter. Also grabbed some cream peas and zucchini.
And of course I had to have a fried pie. Eating local can be so much fun.
Ham's closes for the season on Aug. 15, so if you haven't gotten your peach fix, don't dawdle.

Metro's Eric Aasen has just posted a fun story about Ralph and Rosemary Brinegar, a Dallas couple who have collected 2,001 family recipes over the past 54 years.

Read all about it, and be sure to check out the video, too.

On Mondays, you can make an appointment to meet with Pete Yavner, who will bring a grinding stone to Flavors From Afar. Not only will he sharpen your knives, he'll show you how to do it. The first knife is $5, which you may apply to any of Pete's Products; these include cutting boards, knives and more. Each subsequent knife is $4.

But Pete cautions that if you bring in what he calls a "gardening tool" that has to be ground down, he may have to have a little talk with you. Flavors From Afar is at 6712 Snider Plaza; phone is 214-696-2327. No excuses for dull knives now. Where'd I put my Band-Aids?

For purposes of discussion we will ignore fast-food shakes that are made with anything other than real, hand-dipped ice cream. There are still plenty of places dishing out the real thing. Not surprisingly, Blue Bell is a local fave, but a version made by Schepps also pops up a lot. Check the list of ice cream brands here. Not on the list are places like Braum's and Twisted Root, that use their own ice cream.

Dallas Morning News photo by Evans Caglage

John Lose, whose day job is keeping Taste copy clean, shares his tale of making the infamous cookies from The New York Times:

I couldn't resist it. When I saw the story in last week's New York Times Dining section about ultimate chocolate chip cookies, I had to give the recipe a shot.

Because, you see, I am addicted to chocolate chip cookies. And this story promised that this recipe, which contained tips and tricks of New York City pastry chefs, was the ultimate.

Photo by Bill Addison

Used to be, Dominion Farms was the only local producer raising pork, and it was available from the farm or a retailer like Roy's Natural Market. Now Dominion is selling at three farmers markets: Coppell, McKinney and Frisco (and Rebohoth Ranch is raising pigs, too).

I had a chance this weekend to test-drive Dominion's bone-in pork chops and some of the cured bacon. Verdict: It's worth the difference in price. The bone-in chops had a nice edge of fat on one side and grilled up juicy (even the center medallion), with a vivid, almost nutty, flavor. Even I was gnawing the bone.

The cured bacon is funky and irregular in size, but again cooks up with such good flavor. I've been putting it in breakfast quesadillas with my favorite canned refired black beans, Zapata (available at Whole Foods Market), which has a perfect spreading consistency. Also BLTs with the Lemleys' tomatoes.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac tremble. Iran fakes its missile-test shot. Rice rattles a saber in reply. And what's the most-e-mailed story at The New York Times today? And adaptation of chocolatier Jacques Torres' chocolate chip cookie recipe.

The cookies are gloriously photographed with flecks of salt and chunks of melting chocolate in the article that describes the perfection that is a chocolate chip cookie and the fact that a perfect cookie is not so easy to make. (Jacques finishes his with the sprinkling of sea salt before baking.)

The photo will inspire you to start creaming sugars and butter. Or challenge Bill Addison for one of those cashew-chip-and-cherry-jam cookies he writes about at Doughmonkey. Hey, your photo's good, too, Bill.

Kim Pierce reports that the Frisco farmers market, now in its second year, is attracting some interesting vendors.
There's a good selection of pastured meats and the usual North Texas crops -- black-eyed peas, peaches, blueberries, etc. (The peaches shown are from Keith Copp of Ponder, and I wish I had one right now.)
It's worth checking out if you live in the great north. If not, check our guide to other area farmers markets.

Photo by Mike Stone/Special Contributor

A few weeks ago we told you that Plano resident Lisa Williams was the Southwest's finalist in the Redwood Creek Wines Campfire Classic Grand Finals. And we told you where you could vote for her in the People's Choice division of the contest.

Well, upon returning from vacation recently, we were happy to discover that Lisa indeed won the People's Choice prize. According to the press release, she's donating her $1,000 in prize money to her local PTA chapter.

On the Fitness blog, Nancy Churnin rounds up 10 foods you probably should be eating, but aren't, courtesy of Men's Health. I"m down with the cinnamon, but working turmeric into your diet takes a bit more planning. I have beets and pomegranate juice in the fridge right now, so I guess I'm doing something right.

Phoenix-based Sunflower Farmers Market has plans for at least two stores in the area -- one in Plano, one in East Dallas. Their formula is to move in near a Whole Foods Market and sell similar stuff, cheaper. Not a bad plan. Maria Halkias has details about Sunflower.

Liz Baron of Blue Mesa Grill reports that Hardie's, a produce wholesaler, is stepping up to help the restaurant make a connection with local farmers. Thus the four types of corn used during the festival will come from growers in Emery and Canton. Find out more here, including recipes.

Former royal chef and current Plano resident Darren McGrady reminds us that today is Princess Diana's birthday. She would have been 47 years old. (Yikes, the 11 years since her death have flown right by.)

The personable chef was on Fox this morning making No-Bake Strawberry and Greek Yogurt Cheesecake with Chocolate-Amaretto Sauce which he used to make for the princess and the princes. He says it's perfect for the Fourth of July holiday. Just add some blueberries and you've got red, white and blue.

Keep it hot, keep it clean, keep it lubricated.
This is advice from grill guru Steven Raichlen on how to grill chicken breasts, of course.
On a recent swing through Dallas, he gave freelance writer Tina Danze (nice apron!) a grilling lesson. What I really want to know is, how do you get those perfect cross-hatch grill marks? Easy: Let the bird (or steak, or whatever) cook long enough to get a nice set of stripes, then flip it, giving it a crisp quarter-turn in the process. Like this. You can see the results in the photo.
Get more on Steven Raichlen here.

It's out there. It seems like every media outlet has advice. Buzzfeed compiled this list of lists of things you should be, ought to be, but aren't, eating. The suggestions range from ostrich to beets, and there are even a few things you really would want to eat. Tip: Blueberries, in season now, are on several of the lists.

How good are the new Fudge Mint Cookies from Back to Nature? Good enough to spark some lively chatter about how they stack up against the revered Girl Scout Thin Mints. The fact that they're made without high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils makes them kind of health-foody. But they hold their own. General opinion seems to be that they're at least as good as Thin Mints -- with the added bonus of being available year-round (somewhere besides in my freezer).

Look for them at Whole Foods Market.
UPDATE, more stores: Kroger, Target, Wal-Mart, Tom Thumb.

Or you could make your own. This one looks way easier. Report back, please.

Today we're doing "show, don't tell." For your entertainment, we have TWO videos.
First up: It's the '80s all over again as chefs Stephan Pyles and Dean Fearing face off to see who can make the best airline food. Alas, the deal was a tie. But it's still fun to watch. Kinda like the '80s all over.

Then, check out Janice Provost of Parigi and a batch of chefs from around town talking about how they develop their menus based on what's fresh at the Dallas Farmers Market. Looks like some excellent shopping, but it was all happening 'round midnight last night. I'll have to head over on Saturday morning to see if they still have any of those yellow tomatoes.

Photo: Stephan Pyles (left) and Dean Fearing, by Randy Eli Grothe

Who is she? Angie Dudley, a baking blogger from Georgia. She's fearless, judging from the projects chronicled on her blog.
Catch her here cooking with Martha Stewart. Is it my imagination or do they have the exact same haircolor?

It's a travesty for lovers of the fine Southern flour, made from low-protein wheat so it produces silky cakes and tender biscuits. It's always been milled in Knoxville, Tenn., but new owner Smucker's is moving the operation to somewhere in the Midwest.
Hard-core Southern bakers say they can tell the difference.

Shown: LaDonna Hilton of Fall Branch, Tenn., with a batch of her prize-winning biscuits -- made with White Lily. (Erica Yoon/The New York Times)

Tim Hanni (left) is a chef and master of wine who likes to fiddle with flavors. I blogged here recently about his Budometer, a test he developed to help people pick wines they might like based on physiology and taste as opposed to an arbitrary expert opinion.

He also makes, for want of a better description, a seasoning blend called Vignon that balances flavors and makes any food way friendly with any wine.

This pretty much made my eyes glaze over - until Tim came through Dallas and asked if he could cook for a friend and me last night. 'You kidding? We rounded up a favorite foodie couple and local produce broker Tom Spicer and said, "Come on down."

"The theme for tonight," said Hanni, "is All the Wrong Stuff."

Photo by The Italian Wine Guy.

Justin Beam, the creative mixologist and bar manager at Fearing's, was up to the challenge when we asked him to come up with a tall summer cocktail that would include watermelon ice cubes.

The rosy-hued result, which Justin calls "The Jack Ruby," is showcased exclusively in Wednesday's Taste section, as part of our cover story on watermelon.

Justin describes the cocktail as a "vodka lemonade, but with the addition of a bit of heat from the ginger and peppercorn, with the cooling effect of the watermelon." What's more, Justin likes it so much that he says he is "seriously thinking about putting it on Fearing's bar menu," which specializes in using fresh, seasonal ingredients.

Dallas Morning News photos of Justin Beam
and the Jack Ruby cocktail: Evans Caglage

If you're heading to the CityArts Celebration this weekend in the Arts District, stop by the Culinary Showcase (Pearl at Woodall Rodgers) to catch area chefs in action. Highlights include:

• Salvatore Gisellu of Daddy Jack's Wood Grill will demonstrate how to make Italian watermelon salad. (What a fab idea for hot days!) Friday, June 13, at 7:30 p.m.
  
• Brian Luscher of the Grape will make bananas Foster bread pudding with chocolate and caramel sauces. Saturday, June 14, at 11 a.m.
  
• Mansour Gorji of Canary Café will showcase items such as hummus from his Gorji Gourmet product line in a demo that includes a fresh peach salad with fennel, pomegranate seeds and his Gorji Gourmet Pomegranate Champagne Vinaigrette. Sunday, June 15, at 4 p.m.
  

Click here for more CityArts coverage.

Word comes that Lisa Williams of Plano has been named the Southwest's Best Campfire Chef in the 2008 Redwood Creek Wines Campfire Classic. As a regional winner, Lisa and her family (including her husband and three sons) will travel to New York and compete in the finals for a $10,000 grand prize.

If you want to vote for Plano's favorite daughter for the People's Choice Award, which carries a $1,000 prize, click here ...but do it soon, because voting continues only through Monday, June 23.

Local chefs will be doing their thing at the CityArts Festival in the Arts District this weekend.
Look for Brian Luscher of The Grape, Robbie Lewis of Fuse and others throughout the weekend. Details here.
Also be sure to check out The Starbucks Taste Tour lounge, with samples of five coffees. Iced, I hope.

Associated Press

The customary culinary eye candy on the cover of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine has been replaced by something that might have readers shouting "Bam!"
Instead of the usual recipe cover shot, readers of the July/August issue will see a picture of Emeril Lagasse and Stewart, marking the first time in the magazine's five years that people, not food, have graced the cover.
The move marks a further development in the relationship between Emeril and Martha, whose company in February bought the rights to Emeril's franchise of cookbooks, television shows and kitchen products from him.
Emeril will be a regular columnist in Everyday Food. His "Kick It Up -- Everyday with Emeril" column will focus on easy, innovative recipes. His first column includes recipes for ribs, macaroni salad and Caribbean chicken.

What do critics like Bill Addison and special contributor Michael Hiller do when they're not eating, writing about or thinking about restaurant food? Recently, they hit the grills - that's grills plural - at Hiller's house to grill pizzas. I've always wondered how, exactly, you grill a pizza without burning the bottom and having it go all oozy on top. Now I know.

Hiller has the Big Green Egg (left), whose temperature can be regulated. So he fires that baby up to nearly 800 F, and briefly chars the homemade pizza dough rounds on both sides, before sliding the crust onto a peel, then sliding it back off into the covered gas grill, set at a lazy 200 F. Addison worked in a controlled frenzy to top the crust, then closed the cover to let it cook. The boys did three pizzas this way.

The results? Sublime. One was topped with pesto, blue cheese, caramelized onions and cooked apple slices. One was spread with goat cheese, capers and salmon that Hiller caught in Alaska. And one was roasted red peppers, two kinds of sausage (pre-cooked because of the pizza's brief grilling time), red onion slices and smoked mozzarella. The smoky, slightly charred crust made the pies. And I'm still enjoying the leftovers.

Photos by the Italian Wine Guy