MarkIsCooking

The best Asian market near me (Boston suburbs) is a store called Super 66. The store is borderline in the cleanliness department, to be sure. You have to be very careful picking produce, but there surely are some very good deals. The Asian ingredients are a must. Lost of them. Interesting stuff you don't see elsewhere. Our store has a sizeable fish department, again a little scary from the sanitation point of view, but it's the only place near me where I can buy live Dungeness crab. Of course, I need to use sign language to get across to the guy taking it out of the tank that I want a very lively one. To me, they're a place to visit on occasion for selective items. Glad they're here. -Mark-

I think it will be interesting to see how much real opportunity they give winners. Getting more polished on-air is not something that happens in a few days. The early shows of all their most popular people were not smooth, to say the least. Most people won't be really great after only 6 episodes (which I think is all they promise them upfront as the winner). -Mark-

Very interesting. I hadn't noticed the beef thing (I don't buy/eat it often), but I did read an article that said we could be looking at material price increases on domestic produce. The speculation is that with ethanol becoming so big, that more and more acreage is being converted to growing corn to make it. Directly, this would drive corn prices higher, but also prices of other things that had previously been grown on land that might be converted to growing more corn. Man! Why does everything seem to boil down to oil? (sorry for the political commentary). Mark

I think the whole topic of food distribution and how capitalism affects it (in the US) is quite interesting and I hope someone figures out a way to help us move forward in a good way within our system.EatWild.com The good news is that people are far more conscious about the quality of the food they eat (it might not be having a great impact yet, but people are thinking about it more). Clear evidence is the explosion of Whole Foods and similar stores. More good news is that Whole Foods does pay some attention to local producers, especially for cheese and seafood (at least in my area near Boston). I know many of us would love to see more focus on 'buying local'. We have a few farmers markets in our area which seem to do well and this is a fairly new thing. I just began looking into acquiring meat that is produced locally by artisan farmers, as opposed to the big meat producers who service all the regular stores. I hope you will too, if you haven't already. I found info www.EatWild.com and LocalHarvest.org. At the end of the day, at least in the US, we need to find a way to educate people, improve the convenience of buying local and maybe then we have a chance. -Mark-

I grew up in MD and, by the way, love all things crab. I totally agree with "holding the potato" and leaving it out. I think the best cream of crab is prepared getting the liquid right and then adding the crab just at the end, which allows the crab to hold its shape and freshness. I happen to think a cool way to serve it is to have a mound of crab in each soup plate and pour the soup itself into the bowl at the table. -Mark-

Anna - You rock! Love the 'beef porn' as you put it. I'm thinking we don't use enough beef in my house to warrant buying a half-cow, but I'm not sure. Could you and other beef experts take a stab at these few questions?? >> If butchered and vacuum sealed, how long do you think the meat can be held in the freezer before quality starts to deteriorate?? >> What is the best method for finding a "local" farmer who sells high quality beef? I live just outside Boston, by the way. Thanks again for the pics and info! -Mark-

Has anybody seen GR's show on BBC America (Kitchen Nightmares)?? Just caught one episode and it wasn't bad. He intervened to help a British Pub owner fix his problem business, which was losing lots of $$$. -Mark-

I'm looking to tap into that eGullet braintrust on this one. Is there such a thing as a definition for "Original Recipe"? By this I mean, if you're entering a contest or want to call a recipe 'your own', what does it take? Must you dream it up in your head, play with proportions again and again to hone and then - tada! - there is your original recipe? If you take pieces of various recipes (one person's cake recipe plus another person's food mixture) and combine them in a different way - is that an 'original' recipe? For those of you who have entered contests, how does it usually work? For those who have written cookbooks, how does that usually work? Thanks for your help! -Mark-

Thanks for the kind words!!!! I have my fingers crossed, but I just chatted with a woman who made it to the semi-finals last year (out of over 10,000 entries!), but didn't make it to the finals. She's trying again this time around. We'll see and I'll certainly keep my eGullet friends posted! -Mark-

This show is like a car crash to me. I don't want to watch, but I still do. My biggest problem is the basic premise. Is there really any chance they're going to have a Waffle House short order cook with no training get put in charge of an expensive Vegas restaurant?? Or a junior sous chef for that matter? Top Chef is giving away money and they only care about the product they taste. I get that. NFNS cares really about whether or not people will 'play' well on the air. This thing just seems to be all about GR cussing people out, watching people cry and look stupid and little more. Too bad, yet I still watch. I might be out of my mind, but I entered to be a contestant on the NFNS. If you can find 3 minutes to watch my video, give me a positive vote and positive comment on the MySpace page, that would be so awesome and appreciated. Mark's MySpace NFNS Page -Mark-

I think these contestants are under a huge amount of pressure and - needless to say - the cameras are there to capture every slip and emotional teeter. From what I've heard from other reality participants, the story we see is not altogether the same 'feel' they have actually living it, because 24/7 taping is cut down to a small percentage. For entertainment value, they obviously grab onto the 'juiciest' stuff. At the end of the day, if you go through all this and get a TV show, it's still a far easier route than most people who have TV shows have endured. Can't wait until Sunday. Even though I don't love either one, it looks like there will be a cool challenge to cap things off. -Mark-

eGulletiers - It can be a tough crowd here, but I'm hoping for your support. I entered the contest for the next round of NFNS. I could really use some encouragement and positive comments on the MySpace page where I posted the video. Mark's MySpace NFNS page I'm certainly not in Alton's league by any stretch, but I would be committed to elevating things beyond a pretty face (especially since I don't have one) that can read a teleprompter. In terms this NFNS competition, I'm a little confused on how the winner gets picked. They had a few days of online voting, but the previews for next week look like an all out challenge will be done. Does anybody know how this will work? Is it 50/50 home votes plus the judges???? -mark-

I'm creating a recipe for a contest and I need to get my hands on some Spanish specialty food items. Anybody know a great source/store in Boston or suburban West Boston???? Thanks! -Mark-

After contemplating further, I will give Food Network a little credit on something (don't everyone sigh at the same time). Yes, perhaps the whole Jag exit was scripted and contrived, but imagine if this same thing happened on a Fox show. They would have blind-sided the guy and turned the whole thing into a circus using Jag as a punching bag. So, tip of the hat to FN for handling it as they did (i.e. giving the guy a somewhat graceful exit). -Mark-

Scene did not feel genuine to me either. It's possible he knew he'd be thrown out so he resigned to make a much nicer parting picture for himself.

Thanks to all. Awesome thread! A few comments. For all those people who are buying meat local and for all those considering it, kudos to you! I think our whole food distribution system has evolved into something where ability to transport and ability to keep something 'looking good' has won out over true freshness and flavor. Slight tangent, on the fruits and vegetable side, if you haven't read THIS BOOK I highly recommend it. For those who just can't find the time to visit multiple stores for stuff, when I'm forced to buy at the supermarket, I get them to cut something for me while I'm in the store (to avoid buying something in the case). It could be just hours fresher, but hey, I take what I can get. Most decent sized towns do have access to some kind of meat market and often they're not the places you'd think of. For example, you can sometimes find a good meat market within an ethnic neighborhood (i.e. a real Italian grocer or even a kosher meat market in a Jewish area). -Mark-

I actually contact Food Network a while ago about the recipes and was told that they don't have them available and don't have any plans in the near term to make them available. -Mark-

I hope you're wrong and it doesn't boil down to mainly be about looks, especially since some of the most successful hosts aren't exactly cover-boy material (Alton and Emeril). Thanks to lots of folks who checked out my NFNS entry video for next year. Your encouraging words mean a lot. We'll see what happens. Mark's MySpace NFNS Entry Page Mark

I did bought into this program twice. Once, I spent a week at Le Bernardin and a few days at Jean Georges (both in NYC). I could give you all the details you want. Overall, I had an awesome time. The only caveat I'd give you is that almost all the time (in my case) was spent with the kitchen staff, chef de cuisine and/or sous chefs. In both cases, I spent a little time with the "celebrity chef", more with Eric Ripert than Jean Georges (who was busy at the time getting ready to open his Chinese restaurant). If you want to know any more, PM me. -Mark-

Well, eGulletiers, you can only blame yourself for me commiting the most outside-the-box move of my life! With encouragement from several of you in this thread and through PMs, I had a few glasses of wine and then pushed "send" on my application to the next round of The Next Food Network Star. It would be awesome if you have a chance to view the demo video and gently add some comments to the myspace page (for those of you with MySpace profiles). [if you hate it, perhaps you could keep your comments to yourself or PM me. It's a little too early in my broadcast career to see lots of bashing commentary online.] Here's the link (once you arrive, you click on the video to the lower right to play it): Mark's MySpace NFNS page Thanks again for the encouragement and if it goes anywhere, rest-assured, you'll read all about it here! -Mark-

I'd love to hear more about the show and what people thought of it this year. If you're not hard-core in the food business, would it still be a cool trip to take (i.e. next year for me)???? Please tell.

I don't mind walking into an empty or near-empty restaurant, but I know many people do. All I care about is the food and service I find when I'm there (and I agree that there is this paradox where often the service/food can be lacking when the place isn't busy). If I owned your place, I'd worry more about what I could do specifically to do more business on those weaker days. A lot of money flows to the bottom line by increasing business on those days. I've seen places in Boston (where I live) do some cool stuff. Here are a few: > major ingredient night. For example, let everyone know that Tuesday is lobster night featuring 3 or 5 or whatever special lobster dishes not available other nights. > Chef's choice tasting menu. I thought this was genius when I saw it. The customer gets a really good prix fixe price, but the chef chooses the menu for that night. A good way to use up what won't be good in another day or 2, highlight what the chef can do and get customers who maybe won't/can't pay the higher busier day prices. -Mark-

Interesting thread. As parent of 3, I think a lot of the youth weight thing boils down to 3 things: > Parental Control: It seems like so many parents are not willing to set limits for their kids (i.e. don't want to say no) and plenty of parents simply don't understand the basics of healthy eating (just look at them). > Portion Control: The volume of food many people (including some kids) eat is just staggering. There just isn't enough exercise and activity to offset it. Anybody seen the new Shaq program where he's trying to help a bunch of fat kids turn things around? Not as easy as he thought. Parental control and portion control are at the heart of the struggle. > Processed foods: I've gotten into the habit of simply not buying anything where the ingredient list is long. I've never seen a long ingredient list that didn't have tons of stuff which is not food, but stuff designed to change the color, shelf life, etc. I'm convinced that years of large amounts of these chemicals is changing the body chemistry in many of us. -Mark-

I don't have any problem with a whole fish and I've had some great preparations this way. Where they mention dropping a live fish into a deep fryer, I've had that as well. Deep fried catfish is popular in some places in the south and some places will fish them out of a tank, coat them and into the fryer they go. At 375 degrees or whatever the fryer is set to, I can't imagine the fish lives more than a second. I think it's hard to say that this is any less humane than the way most chicken and cows are slaughtered. I do have a problem with the fish still being alive on the plate. I can't imagine that being an enjoyable dining experience. I spent some time staging in a restaurant once where they had scallops so fresh that you could literally see the muscle still moving in your hand as you sliced it down (for serviche).

Paul went home last night. The Iron Chef challenge just blew him out of the water, particularly the part where he had to do some 'color commentary' the way the guy on the floor does in the 'real' Iron Chef show. Amy - who melted down last week and said she wanted to go home - was the only big winner from this week's show. Her food was well received and she did a great job in the commentary. Jag is still there, though he completed melted down (they hated his food) and he was crying in the apartment and being comforted by Paul (prior to the vote-off).