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Richard Kilgore

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Posts posted by Richard Kilgore

    Texas: Low Brow vs High Brow

    in Robb Walsh Round Table with Q&A

    Posted

    Robb -- During the Round Table, you said:

    we do low brow better than high brow where I live. You don't come to Texas to hear classical music, you come here to listen to the blues and Tejano music. Likewise with food--barbecue and Tex-Mex are to haute cuisine what the blues and Tejano conjunto are to classical music.

    While I agree that indigenous Texas foods are great and people who visit enjoy seeking them out, don't you think you're over stating your case a bit? After all, people do indeed come to Texas for classical music (the Dallas Symphony has one of the great music halls in the world) and art (the Kimbell and the Modern in Ft. Worth; the Dallas Museum of Art, the new Nasher Sculpture Garden -- with a Mansion at Turtle Creek outpost on the grounds, as well as The Meadows Museum -- largest collection of Spanish art outside Spain, all in Dallas; the Judd Museum in West Texas; and on and on). And Houston is not exactly bereft of "high brow" offerings that people travel to see, hear and do. There is enough interesting fine dining in the major cities to draw travelers, too. So even though I may prefer to seek out barbecue, or Tex-Mex, or steaks or the wide array of new ethnic offerings here, I don't find it necessary to ignore some of the fine chefs and restaurants in Texas that are getting national recognition.

    Great Food & Travel Writer Influences

    in Robb Walsh Round Table with Q&A

    Posted

    During the Round Table Ellen Shapiro asked a question about great food & travel writers who had influenced Robb and the panel. Robb answered at some length, but said he could go on and on...so perhaps he will here. And we didn't get to hear from Ellen herself or Russ Parsons, so I hope you two will fill us in on those who have influenced you and in what ways. And John Whiting mentioned John Thorne, but any others you care to point out as important to you as key influences?

    The Rise of Non-Snobbish Food Writing

    in Robb Walsh Round Table with Q&A

    Posted

    During the Round Table, Ellen Shapiro asked a question that we did not get to, but that I think is worth following up on.

    Extrapolating from my age (35) to Russ's (48) where does that pinpoint the rise of the kind of non-snobbish food writing that Robb illustrates? Would it be sometime in the 1980s?

    I am not sure what exactly classifies as "snobbish" and "non-snobbish", but I would include the food writing of the poet-novelist-screenwriter Jim Harrison (The Raw and the Cooked ) as part of a wave of new voices.

    Russ's Feces & an Insight

    in Robb Walsh Round Table with Q&A

    Posted

    Chad -- I think that a distinctive quality of much of Robb's writing is not simply that it has "personality" or that he writes from a "personal" viewpoint in writing about food, but that he also captures something of the essence of specific people in their cultures. Some of the essays in Are You Really Going To Eat That? are not just fine food writing, but fine writing, period. I am thinking in particular of pieces like "Dinner at Darrington: The Dying Art of Black Southern Cooking", a poignant piece on a prison cook. Or "The Things We Still Carry", the candid views of young pizza-eating Vietnamese American college students in a Houston Vietnamese restaurant. And for making other cultural traditions his own in the most personal of ways, there is "Bread of the Dead".

    Slow Cooker/Crock Pot: Recipes and Techniques

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Absolutely should not do that. Curiously my "grapes of wrath" has a heavy glass lid and works fine. It will have some condensation, but should not be spitting and flowing over. I noticed on Amazon that some buyers of the new Smarty-Pots complained that they ran too hot. I did not analyze the responses in detail, but a quick scan showed higher user ratings for the old style (High-Low) than the new style (Smart-Pots).

    Hope this works out.

    Round Table & Q & A with Robb Walsh

    in Robb Walsh Round Table with Q&A

    Posted

    We are pleased to have two-time James Beard Award winner Robb Walsh as our first eGullet Round Table featured guest. Our panel for this Round Table is composed of food and travel writers Russ Parsons, Ellen Shapiro and John Whiting. Richard Kilgore is moderator.

    Orientation to the Round Table Discussion: I asked Russ, Ellen and John to open the Round Table discussion with some introductory comments inspired by Robb's book Are You Really Going To Eat That?. Each panelist then raised one or more issues related to food and travel writing as grist for the mill. I anticipated a lively Round Table discussion on Robb’s book, as well as on good food and the opportunities and challenges for food writers everywhere, and ended up with that and much more -- one of the most fascinating discussions on food writing and its psychological, social and cultural implications we have had on eGullet. You will find the Round Table proceedings pinned and closed here at the top of this forum, with the Q & A running below.

    eGullet Member Q &A: Robb will be available for the usual eGullet member Q & A now that the Round Table is concluded. We will be taking questions starting Monday, February 9th, and Robb will respond throughout the week. The publisher, Counterpoint, is providing five copies of Are You Really Going To Eat That? for distribution to five members who participate in the Q & A. Please note that the Round Table is concluded -- pinned and closed. Nonethless, do feel free to ask new questions or to follow up on some aspect of the Round Table discussion using the Q & A actively running below the Round Table. (A moderator queue may be used, so your questions may not be posted until the moderator releases them.)

    Click here to go directly to the Round Table with Q & A.

    Guest and Panel Biographical Notes

    Robb Walsh has been described as “the Indiana Jones of food writers” by NPR’s Lianne Hanson. His most recent book is Are You Really Going To Eat That? a far-ranging collection of his food essays -- from eating durian in Thailand, searching for the ultimate cup of coffee in Jamaica and the hottest pepper sauce in Trinidad, and doing dutiful field research on truffles in the Perigord region of France and on Bresse chickens, to southern cooking, chicken-fried steak and introducing Jeffrey Steingarten to Houston barbecue. He is currently the restaurant critic for the Houston Press.

    Robb has been nominated for James Beard Awards multiple times for his magazine articles, newspaper series, restaurant reviews, and radio commentary on NPR. His book Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook: Recipes & Recollections from the Pit Bosses was nominated for a 2003 James Beard Cookbook Award in the Americana category. In additon, his Houston Press feature "Barbecue in Black and White: Carving the Racism Out of Texas Barbecue Mythology" won a Katie Award, a regional journalism prize, for feature writing in major market newspapers.

    For several years Robb wrote the Natural History Magazine column “A Matter of Taste”, which explored a wide range of issues in food history and science, as well as culinary anthropology. He also edited Chile Pepper Magazine and founded the Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival, the largest hot sauce competition in the world. In addition, Robb was food editor of the Austin Chronicle , and he has contributed to numerous other publications.

    Robb’s past books include A Cowboy in the Kitchen: Recipes from Reata and Texas West of the Pecos, co-authored with Grady Spears; Nuevo Tex-Mex: Festive New Recipes from Just North of the Border, co-authored with David Garrido; and Traveling Jamaica With Knife, Fork & Spoon , co-authored with Jay McCarthy. His work also appears in Cornbread Nation 1: The Best of Southern Food Writing , as well as The Best Food Writing of 2001, 2002, and 2003. Robb's next book is The Tex-Mex Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos, due out in June 2004.

    The Panel:

    Russ Parsons is an award winning food columnist for the Los Angeles Times and author of the book How to Read a French Fry: And Other Stories of Intriguing Kitchen Science. He contributes frequently to the eGullet discussion forums.

    Russ has been a journalist for more than 30 years, covering everything from high school football and professional rodeo to cops, courts and country music. He has been writing about food for 20 years, including more than a decade at The Times , where he has been food editor, managing editor, and deputy editor. Before coming to The Times , he was food editor at the Los Angeles Times Syndicate , food editor at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and food editor at the Albuquerque Tribune .

    Russ has won almost every major American food writing award, including the Association of Food Journalists, the James Beard Foundation, the International Association of Culinary Professionals' Bert Greene and the University of Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Award for consumer writing. How to Read a French Fry was a finalist for two Julia Child cookbook awards.

    Ellen R. Shapiro is an intrepid travel writer based in New York City. She is eGullet Forum Host, Adventures in Eating, and her recent eight-part series on her travels in Mongolia has become an instant eGullet classic.

    Ellen is the author of four books, including New York City With Kids and Shopping the North Carolina Furniture Outlets (Crown). Formerly Senior Editor of Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine and "Off the Beaten Path" columnist for Conde Nast's Concierge.com , she has journeyed to the four corners of the globe in search of unusual destinations and unique travel experiences.

    She has written for major national travel publications about, among other things, wineries in South Africa, New Zealand, and British Columbia; trekking in the Nepal Himalayas; Michelin three-star dining in Europe; climbing Mount Kilimanjaro; SCUBA diving all over the world; journeying overland through Africa; archaeological digs in the Mideast; Southeast Asian cuisine and culture; cooperative camping in Alaska; and solo dining and travel for women.

    She is a PADI SCUBA Divemaster, nature photographer, and Sierra Club backpacking trip leader.

    John Whiting is an American who has lived in London since 1966. He is currently News Editor for Fine Food Digest, the trade journal of the Guild of Fine Food Retailers (UK). In addition, his website food essays have been a favorite of food lovers and writers such as John Thorne. A long-time eGullet member, John Whiting pops up frequently in the eGullet discussion forums.

    John’s working life has been equally devoted to words and to music. As a Writer, he regularly contributes articles about food, and diatribes on the state of the arts and society, to European and American publications. In 1997 he established the Diatribal Press, devoted to "entertainment for intelligent readers", and his publications include his travel/food journal, Through Darkest Gaul with Trencher and Tastevin. In addition, he was the joint recipient with Odaline de la Martinez of a Composer-Librettist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, resulting in an opera that was performed in New Orleans, London and California.

    As a sound designer, John has provided sound projection for the Kronos Quartet and dozens of symphony orchestras from Los Angeles to Leningrad. He also has collaborated with many major conductors including Sir Michael Tippett, Andre Previn, and Sir Simon Rattle. In his London studios, John produced pre-recorded performance tapes for Henri Pousseur, John Cage, Nigel Osborne, Luciano Berio, James Wood and other European and American composers. In addition, John has performed, taught and lectured in Germany, France and England.

    Richard Kilgore, Ph.D. is a Dallas-based psychologist and writer who consults to organizations on communication and development issues and provides psychotherapy and career development consultation to writers and other professionals. His book reviews and columns have appeared in major metropolitan newspapers and other publications. He is eGullet Forum Host, Texas.

    Click here to go directly to the Round Table with Q & A.

    Slow Cooker/Crock Pot: Recipes and Techniques

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Fifi - Check it out before blowing it off. The "Recipe Smart Pot" apparently gives a lot of control that the other smart pots don't. You can set it in 30 minute increments at either high or low temp, and you may be able to combine those during the cooking process. There is some point at which it goes to "warm" (not "off") as a fail safe. I don't know if you can over-ride that; you'll have to look through the instruction book. But even if it did cut back to Warm after say 10 hours...exactly how long are you planning on sleeping overnight? At any rate one of these techno-pots and a traditional high-low pot would probably cover all possible needs.

    Slow Cooker/Crock Pot: Recipes and Techniques

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Thanks Fifi, I fixed my Rival products link above.

    Looking them over, I like best the 6.5 oval "Recipe Smart Pot". You can really control the process over time. Otherwise I think I would go for the 5 qt round for something smaller. My grapes of wrath are still cookin', but I would like to replace it sometime this year. These things are a bargain given what they will do for you.

    Slow Cooker/Crock Pot: Recipes and Techniques

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Ah, the garland of grapes vs the happy blue geese decision. I too opted for the grapes. I use it at least a couple of times a month (but in private, shhhh).

    They have them in most sizes now in white and stainless. The only newer functional option that appeals to be is the warming setting, not that the more sophisticated settings wouldn't possibly be helpful: you can set them to cook at high or low and then drop to warm after a preset number of hours. The ones with the most options seem to be the large (4.5 qt?) ovals. I suspect that any of the rivals are fine if they have the functions you need. I have no experience with the fancy models and also would be interested in hearing from someone who has a years worth of miles on theirs.

    Check out Rival Products website..

    Roasted Cauliflower

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Great thread! I roasted a cauliflower for the first time last night and used it in a pasta dish: florets with EVOO, salt and pepper at 400 degrees for about an hour in a large LC baker. Linguini coated in EVOO, salt and pepper with Romano Pecorino and the cauliflower. Very nice.

    Best of Texas: Bakeries & Pastry Shops

    in Texas: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    In Dallas The Empire Bakery is still the best for breads. There are other good bakeries in the area, any one of which shows the chain grocery store fake "artisan" breads to be exactly what they are. Central Market has a wide variety of breads and even The Corner Bakery chain is quite good. There is the newer Atlanta Bakery chain, but I don't know it well. There must be some other small bakeries in the DFW I am missing.

    What are your favorites in your part of the state?

    Quail How to

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Elie -- I am impressed. :cool: If you do Robb Walsh's Quail in Rose Petal Sauce, please take pitctures (I know you will) and let's put one in with his article/recipe in RecipeGullet.

    Dutch Ovens

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    You don't "have" to have both, but it's better to have the shape of the pan fit the shape of the meat. So if you are doing a stew, it does not matter. But if you're doing a leg, or elongated roast, or two meats each with a round shape, then oval is an advantage. And many people do with one round oven for everything.

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