Southeastern Food Media

Gifted Gourmet · October 17, 2004

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has an article and ...

the popcorn quiz.. actually, I thought at first it was not of much interest but then took the quiz .. see what you think! :rolleyes:

* also of interest this week a spectacular recipe for City Limits Maryland Lump Crab-Lobster Cake Benedict :biggrin: Looks incredibly rich!

* Book signing: Alton Brown, host of "Good Eats" on the Food Network, of his new book, "I'm Just Here for More Food." 7 p.m. Monday, Borders Books, 3637 Peachtree Road.

* and articles on food and health:Better product labels will reduce confusion about trans fat content .. interesting ...

Atlanta Creative Loafing offers its Atlanta readers a humorous diary of Cliff Bostock's recent trip L.A. story Wolfgang, pretty women, and foie gras shots

off they go to Bastide:

I am startled. "This is not Provencal cuisine," I say to our sever. "It's ... it's ... French molecular cuisine." "Very astute," he says. "We hired a new chef two months ago and we are no longer doing Provencal food." The new chef turns out to be Ludovic Lefebvre, famous in L.A. for A) looking like a rock star and B) turning L'Orangerie into one of L.A.'s hot spots..... Lefebvre's approach is to cook basically with French style and technique but to mix it up with the molecular style made famous at El Bulli in Spain and practiced by Richard Blais here at Bazaar. In fact, an amuse bouche here is a shot glass of blended foie gras much like Blais' milkshake. There's also a deconstructed Bloody Mary of glittering gels served on a big spoon

This is one article well worth the brief time required to read it!

another article on Atlanta diners ...with reviews

Dining at the counter or the bar is a time-honored tradition, whether you're solo or with a buddy or two. There's something almost rakish about it. I'm sure James Dean never dined at a table. Perched at a counter, I've watched chefs cook and bartenders counsel. I've struck up a conversation with other singles. I've read a newspaper. I've people-watched. Sometimes, I've had a backache afterward. There's a communal sensibility to dining at the bar -- and membership is open to all.

Reviews include: Rhea's, Buckhead Diner, Majestic Diner, Luxe, and Gato Bizco Cafe ..

Access Atlanta from the AJC has a review by local critic Meredith Ford on Che, a new local dining spot:

LIPS. Glossy, red lips so puffy they would make Angelina Jolie turn green. They're pursed, puckered and ready to pounce from the menu at Che in Buckhead.
Ah, they lure me to drink rum. They lure me to talk. To eat tapas. To laugh. Those naughty lips. Problem is, I should be more excited than I am. Those lips should have me downright giddy. Che has all the makings of the perfect Latin soiree, minus the piano and closet shower singers: heralded Aria owner, Gerry Klaskala, as well as George McKerrow Jr. and Ron San Martin of We're Cookin' and David Davoudpour, formerly of Blais, are doing much of the backing.

The Birmingham (Alabama) News has a very engaging article this week on teaching children about cooking on television:`Home Plate' scores ... Turner South's Chef Woods brings his true American cuisine, a k a Southern, to TV audiences daily:

"In my mind, you can't have American cuisine without starting with the Southern influence," Woods says. "You talk about the history and the culture of this country, it starts in the South. You talk about American food, it starts in the South." best known as the hip, energetic host of "Home Plate," which started airing on Turner South two years ago. As does Woods' show, the cookbook takes everyday and gives them a fresh, new twist - such as the New Southern Chicken and Dumplings and the Black-Eyed Pea Salad Over Mixed Greens and the Cheddar Grits Souffle.

What a marvelous article! :biggrin:

Charleston Post & Courier has an article which echoes much of what we have seen discussed here in our Southern Food Culture Forum

link to SFC Forum...

Mixed bag of deviled eggs, tomato pie, borscht, pralines .."

Are deviled eggs a Southern thing? I suspect they might be French. My mother is from the North and she made deviled eggs. True, I was raised in the South; but it was many years before that culture had any influence over my mother ... or her cooking. "I think deviled eggs might be French because one of Julia Child's early shows featured a version of them -- which inspired me and my recipe. And which later another Julia -- Julia Reed -- declared 'the-best-stuffed-eggs-I've-ever-had-and-you-have-to-give-me-the-recipe-for-an-article-I'm-writing-for-the-New-York-Times.' Stuffed or deviled, butter is the answer."

and, of course, his recipe follows .. worth looking at even if you are avoiding eggs and the entire cholesterol folderol ... :wink:

The Charlotte Observer has an article by Kathleen Purvis on tailgate picnics:

At Stonewall and Church streets, Joe Ryan and his friends parked an enormous Pace Arrow RV on Saturday night and spent eight hours slow-cooking a whole pig.In the middle of the lot, Dexter Peeler is deep-frying a turkey and cooking ribs for 20 people who are coming after church.
There's hardly a table in sight with less than six bags of chips. There are dip trays and shrimp trays, tubs of homemade cookies, football-size cheese balls rolled in chipped

Charlotte Creative Loafing has an opening article on Russian and Slavic food stores in the area:Kielbasa, Kefir And Kvass Foods from Russia, with love

One of the fastest growing communities in Charlotte is the Russian/Slavic population ...The customers at these stores are primarily from Russia, Poland, Armenia, Ukraine and Romania. In general, the foods found in these shops are winter foods: pickled, smoked or dried. Popular items include grains such as buckwheat, potatoes, rye bread, beef, pork, butter, cabbage, kefir, sour cream, mushrooms, honey, garlic and onions. Polish cuisine is typical of a long winter cuisine. This cuisine is noted for the use of fresh game; flavorful hams; Baltic herring; mushrooms such as morels and chanterelles; borscht and a variety of thick soups; pastries with poppy seeds; noodles and cabbage; and sausage which is served cold with horseradish sauce or mustard, or boiled in beer and cooked in densely flavored stews.

Memphis Commercial Appeal offers a story on a local fine dining choice, La Tourelle:

There's not an element here the Escoffier would not acknowledge, yet every aspect of the dish seems fresh and important. Kent takes a nutty, earthy pumpkin soup and adorns it with a small ravioli filled with crayfish, fried basil and pistou, the French version of the Italian pesto, producing the essence of autumn. A small puff-pastry tart holds a modest mound of crab meat and thinly sliced scallops on a layer of meltingly tender leeks, all topped with silken strips of red and yellow sweet pepper; instead of offering heightened contrasts, this is a dish in which every aspect dissolves ineffably and deliciously into the others.

The Nashville Tennessean has a history and lengthy article on sorghum:

People often confuse sorghum and molasses — the two dark, sweet syrups can often be interchanged in recipes. ''Even the old timers call it molasses,'' Mark says of the sweet brown sorghum ... Sorghum has a milder flavor than molasses, explains Mark's wife, Sherry Guenther. Some molasses, especially the strong, bitter blackstrap variety, is usually cut with corn syrup to make it milder, she says.
• Use sorghum over pancakes, biscuits or toast, as a topping for ice cream or in cookies, cakes and breads.
• Sorghum may be used instead of honey in most recipes, except those with baking powder
• Substitute equal amounts of sorghum for molasses in meat sauces, barbecue sauce and baked beans.

The Raleigh News & Observer has a marvelous article, one among many, on lemons and limes by local attorney, Nick Taylor:

As the keeper of my home kitchen, I buy lemons or limes every time I go to the market. I use them interchangeably, recognizing that limes are a bit more acidic. Along with onions and garlic, lemons or limes make up the trio of basic cooking ingredients. On my counter, I keep a bowl containing onions, garlic, lemons (along with my son's Hot Wheels cars, pens, crayons, old golf balls, loose change and a new light switch I plan to install soon).

Thanks for reading the Southeast Forum Digests this week! Back next week with more from the area for your reading edification and enjoyment! :biggrin:

Gifted Gourmet · October 24, 2004

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

By the way, a common theme which ties together many of the SE media this week is a reflection individual writers have upon the recent SFA gathering in Oxford, Mississippi:

Those stories are in purple here...Mayhaw Man's eGullet link here for SFA articles this week :biggrin:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a lively article on the need for a good breakfast but concedes that granola made at home may be the perfect answer:

making your own granola requires little more than an outline: It's easy, economical and healthful because it allows you to customize to suit your tastes and nutrition requirements."You can control exactly what's going in it, from the spices to the cooking oil or fat to the different cereals that are fun to play with,"

something worthy of your time to read and the recipes are here as well:

* Pop, Pop, Popcorn Cereal

* Fruit-Filled Granola

* Crunchy Granola

* Multi-Grain, Multi-Seed, Multi-Nut Granola

Won Ton Cups With Whipped Cheese and Roasted Pepper which looks simple enough but interesting as an appetizer.

Also of interest to those here in Atlanta:

Fundraising cooking demo: 6:30-9 p.m., Oct. 27, Buckhead Place Shopping Center. $50. 404-760-8904. With Marvin Woods, chef/author/restaurateur, for Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Will be taped for Turner South's "Home Plate."

Set limits for safe, fun Halloween :biggrin:

The Atlanta Business Chronicle is running an article on what is happening with the rapid growth of restaurants along the Atlanta Perimeter Highway (I 285):

Thirteen new restaurants will open in October 2005, when the $165 million live-work-play development by The Sembler Co. opens on Perimeter Center West near Perimeter Mall. The new restaurants will include Outback Steak House, Carrabba's, Cheeseburger in Paradise, Mama Fu's, Tin Drum, Fleming's Steakhouse, Chipotle and Panera Bread. Some contend the restaurant market already is overbuilt in the Perimeter area, with too many eateries chasing too few customers. Others say those folks should try securing a midday table at a good restaurant.

Atlanta Creative Loafing has a number of articles on local dining options by CL's writing staff:

The Malaysian's the thing at multi-culti Asia Bistro

BY BILL ADDISON

Diminutive delights

Five spots to give in to your cupcake craving

BY FLORENCE BYRD

Kitchen aid

Cafe 458 feeds the soul and raises awareness

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

Cafe Karis fills the bill for on-the-go deli fare

BY CYNTHIA WONG

Chef's Table

Blade runner

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

Midtown's Olive Bistro rises above its strip mall surroundings

BY FLORENCE BYRD

Kitchen Witch

Crunch bunch

BY KIM O'DONNEL

Liquid Diet

A gem of a gimlet

BY TONY WARE

Access Atlanta of the AJC has a mixed review of Chops, a local steakhouse :

CHOPS IS A RESTAURANT in need of a large dose of lithium. It is bi-polar. I never know what to expect from it. Sometimes a meal there, usually a late lunch, rates among the best dining in the city. The steaks appear to have been grilled just for me, as if I were a 20-year regular, and every bite I could want has been magically figured out before-hand....

If you enjoy this type of dining and are considering Chops as an option, do continue your reading....

The Birmingham News has a story on a woman who won $100,000 in a contest, the Southern Living Cookoff, with her delightful and healthy recipe for Grilled shrimp, orange and watermelon salad with peppered peanuts in a zesty citrus dressing... read the article for more details ...

The Charleston (SC) Post & Courier has some excellent articles, this week being one on the wide variety of apples in the Low Country ... check it out! Articles this week include:

* Taking a shine to apples

* More tender than store-bought, handmade pasta best with light sauce

* Red cupcakes give nod to the grotesque for Halloween

* Maintain a sharp edge on knives to be safe

* Tubular food newest trend to hit supermarkets

The Charlotte Observer has a number of great articles worthy of your time:

* Deep-fried and divided ....Conference chews over how food has shaped race relations and identity .. this is about the SFA conference in Oxford about which we have details in the Southern Food Culture Forum here on eG.

Edge's genius has come not only from organizing an academic gathering that lures people of diverse backgrounds to talk about controversial subjects.
It's also in the way he has gone about it, giving lectures and events absurd names. This year's conference included "The Fried Chicken Throw Down" and "Possum & Taters: Where Have You Gone?" The names are slightly silly, easing the discomfort of the subjects they disguise: symbolic foods that are fraught with tension and the contested ownership of traditions. In that context, watermelon, fried chicken and chitlins aren't just foods. They're symbols of the way we have defined ourselves and others, and the terrible gulf in between.

* Chicken salad, more

* Exacting measurements

* KATHLEEN PURVIS: Secrets from the vat with a Big Easy star

* Land Down Under yields a label worth its price tag .. you know about Penfold's but do read more here ...

* Got a hankering for pork? We have your guide ...

Charlotte Creative Loafing is this week focusing upon these articles:

* Il Conto, Per Piacere

An Italian neighborhood eatery in Center City

by tricia childress

* Back To School

What's cooking in the classroom?

by tricia childress

* A Meal With A View

Bentley's Restaurant On 27

by jana k. nordstrand

* What's On The Menu?

History a la carte

by linda vespa

* Crunch Bunch

by kim o'donnel

Have you ever met anyone who doesn't like apples?

* Acid Trip

Food falls for Chianti in a big way

by taylor eason

* Good Eats

Our critics' guide to recommended restaurants in Charlotte

Memphis Commercial Appeal articles this week include:

* Proscuitto-Wrapped Salmon

* Chicken culture.. more from SFA! :biggrin: article on the SFA weekend here

* Muffins go with a cozy fall morning

* Recipe books benefit charities

* Old-time gingerbread hits spot for Halloween

* A La Carte

Fourth annual "Taste of the Town" presented by Germantown Area Chamber of Commerce

* Clams need a good soak to de-sand

* A rustic taste of Spain

The Nashville Tennessean has a number of items worth checking out this week:

* Put a cork in the cork: Screw-top bottles, boxed wine ready to replace elegant stopper

* 'Eating Your Words' book good food for thought

* Beef stew takes just minutes

* Southern cooking a blend of black, white cultures: by staff writer Thayer Wine:

Southern food enthusiasts, scholars, chefs, historians and people simply interested in Southern food and culture gathered last week for the seventh Southern Foodways Symposium in Oxford, Miss. ''Food pulls us all together,'' said preacher, activist and one of the speakers Will Campbell, ''but taste, preference and culture sometimes separate us.''

The Raleigh News & Observer has as its premier article one based upon the AFA gathering in Oxford, Mississippi: United we bake: By FRED THOMPSON

Have you ever thought of a biscuit as racially unifying? I hadn't until I returned from the latest Southern Foodways Alliance symposium last week at the University of Mississippi at Oxford. Each symposium has its own theme -- barbecue, Brunswick stew, Appalachian mountain cooking -- and all have included scholarly debates. This year's symposium hinged on the interconnection of race in the South with our food. Is Southern cooking black, white, Greek or Lebanese? In truth, it's all of them and more.

Thus brings to a conclusion this week's SE Forum Digest .. have a healthy, safe, and happy week and watch out for the little Hallowinkies in their costumes collecting their treats in your neighborhoods ... :biggrin:

Gifted Gourmet · October 31, 2004

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

By the way, a common theme which ties together many of the SE media this week is Halloween and the cooking it entails .. look for references in the various media articles...

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is mostly focused on Halloween articles to make a gingerbread haunted house with directions for the various parts:

• The ghoulish graveyard and pumpkin patch

• The spider web door

• Spun sugar cobwebs

Also in this week's food section: a Witch's Hat, Ghostly Shepherd's Pie, and Blood-Red Velvet Cupcakes.... more macabre than fully satisfying, I imagine .. see for yourself ... :rolleyes:

culinary class schedule and info for Atlanta and Asheville, NC

Access Atlanta of the AJC offers readers a review done by local food critic, Meredith Ford, on Taka Sushi:

Food should not only nourish the body and please the mouth, it should be aesthetically satisfying — enticing — as well. To the Japanese, food feeds body, soul and senses..... kanisu, a cold salad of snow crab and thinly sliced cucumber, becomes swanlike on the plate under Taka's touch, delicately centered, then perfectly offset with a dip of excellent soy sauce and wasabi.Scallops are sliced so thin they are almost invisible, shingled with tawny pears and kiwi slices, then drizzled with an all but indiscernible reduction of Sauvignon Blanc that makes your mouth do a double-take: was it there or wasn't it? I'm not sure . . . let me try another bite to see.

Atlanta Creative Loafing this week has a number of good articles of local interest as well:

* Mosaic's Mediterranean composition coming together beautifully

BY BILL ADDISON

* When good restaurants happen to cursed locations

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* A revisit to Luxe, plus CL critic wins award

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Sun in My Belly pleases the palate and eye

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Chef's Table: Molto Riccardo

BY T. LAGON

* Havana good time: Latin vibe, authentic food vitalize Cuban mainstay Mambo

BY FLORENCE BYRD

* Liquid Diet: Greek divide

BY LAYLA BELLOWS

* Kitchen Witch: Homemade fake food

BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Corkscrew: Pour some sugar on me

A little sweetness in a wine isn't a bad thing

BY TAYLOR EASON

The Birmingham News offers up more food stories:

• Writer finds apple pie is American

John T. Edge could be described as a food historian, food sociologist, food psychologist or food activist. All of these are true, to a degree. Edge says he thinks America's love affair with apple pie has its origins in a distinctly American trait: frugality. He cites other examples of this frugality bringing about good flavor in pie, and in other foods. In this book you won't find a lot of recipes for varieties of apple pie. There are 15 recipes in the book. What you will find is the American spirit revealed as Edge travels the country in search - and frequently in praise - of apple pie.

• Halloween hummus is easy to make, fun treat to eat

• Pork rinds really are nutritious, filling snack

• Produce misting de-mystified

The Charleston, SC, Post & Courier has some great stuff to check out right now:

* Know your hams

As I dream of the thinly sliced pieces of ham about to grace our holiday party tables, I ponder the meaning of ham, whose different prices and names in the meat counter or a catalog can be so confusing. I did some research to make it easier... by Natalie Dupree

This is a terrific article!!

* Leland Farms' 'u-pick' tradition ends with retirement

* Why are Barolos so special?

The Charlotte Observer

Pressing the flesh, dishing the pork by KATHLEEN PURVIS

one of the last examples of a great American tradition that dates almost to the beginning of the republic: The political barbecue....
WHY POLITICS AND BARBECUE?
Hogs were slaughtered in the fall, after the first frost. Elections are held in the fall. People with their mouths full of barbecue are likely to sit still long enough to hear a pitch. Put them all together and you have the political barbecue. Politics and barbecue have gone together all the way back to George Washington, who entertained with barbecues at Mount Vernon.

Charlotte Creative Loafing has these interesting local stories:

* Dosa Do Veg out at university area restaurant

by tricia childress

* Charlotte's cozy cuisine spots by tricia childress

* Worthy Of A Salute: Chef makes up for late start

by jana k. nordstrand

* Sweet On The Yellow White & Orange: What's Halloween without candy corn?

by linda vespa

* Mellow Out With Marshmallows

by kim o'donnel

Memphis Commercial Appeal is full of great articles this week:

* Executive Chef Gino Cipriano ... Odds are you'll eat a delectable Italian meal at Murano's cafe

* Cakes N' Things and Valenza Pasta

* Halloween style

* Blueberry dose a day keeps cardiologist away and eyes clear

* Bitty candy bars let it glow (just a little)

* Tenth annual Sip Around the World features more than 200 wines from 60 wineries, 7-10 p.m. Nov. 5, Memphis Botanic Gardens; $50 in advance, $55 at the door. Proceeds benefit National Kidney Foundation of West Tennessee.

The Nashville Tennessean articles include:

* There's nothing like Mama's cooking

Old Hickory's Carolyn Wyatt Norman cherishes her mother's heirloom caramel recipes:
Both recipes call for melted and caramelized sugar. ''It's not complicated, but you have to get the pan at the right temperature to melt the sugar,'' Norman said. She prefers her set of Emerilware because the stainless steel-lined saucepans have a heavy bottom with an aluminum-and-copper core that distributes the heat evenly.
Her mother's recipe calls for ''browning'' the sugar. While Norman is making the base for the filling, she melts the sugar over medium heat. She says to watch it carefully because once it's melted, it soon will begin to caramelize or turn brown. It doesn't take long for it to burn

* 'Eating Your Words' book good food for thought

* Beef stew takes just minutes

Savannah Now: Diversions announces their local 'Gastronomic nirvana' at the Hard Lox Cafe ...

Matzoh balls -- and more -- are on the menu at the 16th annual Hard Lox Cafe, a Jewish food festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday in Forsyth Park.
"It's total gastronomic nirvana," said Carol Greenberg, a former chair of the event and now chair of its brisket booth. Sponsored by the city of Savannah and Congregation Mickve Israel, the festival is expected to bring more than 10,000 people to the park's north end to feast on Jewish fare, listen to music and watch a magic show.

The Raleigh News & Observer brings its readers (and, of course, you!) some terrific reading in its weekly articles:

* Get fit quick schemes: Short bouts of exercise are all the rage, but do they pay off?

* Co-ops count on natural selection

Triangle groups plan member-owned stores to focus on whole foods.

* Triangle ranks high for women

The region makes the top 25 of the nation's healthiest places for women.

* Local food co-ops at a glance

CHATHAM MARKETPLACE

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20. Wines mentioned are available locally; prices are suggested retail.

Have an enjoyable week and remember to visit our "sister" forum right here :Southern Food Culture here at eGullet! :biggrin:

Gifted Gourmet · November 7, 2004

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

In this week's Atlanta Journal-Constitution there is a delightfully autumnal article on butternut squash and their different qualities depending upon the recipe used:

Of all the winter squashes, butternut offers the deepest color, highest yield and best texture, turning creamy rather than stringy when cooked. A bit less sweet than an acorn squash but sweeter than a spaghetti squash, it balances squarely on the flavor fulcrum. With just a bit of a nudge, it tips from dessert to side dish, from creamy ravioli filling to bright salad accent. While there's a lot you could do with butternut squash — stew chunks with tomatoes and hot chiles, or mash it with potatoes and roasted garlic — there are two paths you will assuredly want to take.

Recipes include:

Butternut Squash Pudding With Cinnamon Streusel

Roasted Butternut Squash Ravioli With Sage Brown Butter Sauce

Butternut Squash and Hazelnut Lasagna

Baked Butternut Squash Stuffed With Pears and Apples

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

In Atlanta Creative Loafing this week some interesting articles and reviews of local food scene standouts ... two are by Bill Addison, a favorite of mine:

* Southern Beauty The food can be uneven, but City Grill still weaves evocative magic

A meal at City Grill can offer up several memory-igniting moments that court sentimentality but ultimately deliver soulful straightforwardness ....Happily, we score with the soup of the day: pumpkin with cinnamon mascarpone. We ask for extra spoons and take turns savoring its spicy fragrance and homey taste.

BY BILL ADDISON

* Sandwich niche Six delis (New York-style or otherwise) for noontime noshing

BY BILL ADDISON

* Les dinosaures Two French restaurants that have survived the years: PetiteAuberge and South of France ...

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Barbecue, with a side of beefcake XL cup o' charm is free at Thompson Brothers BBQ .

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Chef's Table How green does your garden grow?

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* Put it in park Out of the garage, into the lap of luxury at Ali-Oli

BY FLORENCE BYRD

* Liquid Diet When in Rome

BY TONY WARE

This week you will find an article on Hometown barbecue in access atlanta.com from the AJC

(the ribs) at Hometown Barbecue literally fall from the bone — they need a little preliminary prompting from your fingers first. The fat in the meat is flawlessly rendered, the meat perfectly pink and smoky, the skin caramelized with just enough char and grit to make things extremely interesting.. fine and rare instance with barbecue joints when ribs and pulled pork are of equal measure. At Hometown, the pork is pulled by hand — moist, tender, meaty, without fat or gristle — and possesses that perfect mix of smoke and wood that makes barbecue, well . . . barbecue

The food section from the Charleston Post & Courier has an exceptionally interesting article with the title "Fair Fare: Main attractions include classic funnel cakes and new foods such as grilled gator ":

Fair food is, and isn't, what it used to be. The classics are there in full force -- hamburgers, corn dogs, french fries, cotton candy, funnel cakes, ice-cream sundaes. Yet there are new faces, such as J&S, which sells grilled gator, shark, chicken and shrimp and homemade potato chips. Or DeLuca's, an eatery that bills itself as "A True Taste of Italy." Dishes include a pasta called cavatelli that's hand-rolled around a ricotta cheese filling. Italian wedding soup is even on the menu.

* also in this week's online paper comes Just in time for holidays Books for Cooks 'Tis the season for big baking cookbooks ....

* and KITCHEN SCOOP ... BY HOLLY HERRICK: Perfecting pie pastry

* CHEFS AUCTION ......

Specialties created by 11 Charleston area restaurants are the highlight of the fourth annual Signature Chefs Auction on Nov. 14 to benefit the March of Dimes. Participating restaurants are 82 Queen, Anson, Brasserie des Amis, Carolina's, Circa 1886, Embassy Suites Hotel Airport, Sea Island Grill, Sunfire Grill & Bistro, the Boathouse restaurants, Union Hall and Vista Riverside Grille.

This week finds some new items I rather expect you will enjoy from The Charlotte Observer

* Create a culinary keepsake ... Homemade cookbooks also are history books

* COOKING JOURNAL WEEK SEVEN: NEW CLASS .... Rising above impatience

Charlotte Creative Loafing offers its readers several articles:

* California Dreaming Bella is a beauty

by tricia childress

Consider, for example, thickly sliced house made cinnamon raisin focaccia French toast or a radiant frittata oozing with cheese. One day, the scone du jour was mango. On another, a surprisingly wieldy sandwich of thinly sliced meatloaf tucked into focaccia with sauteed bell peppers proved sensational. Other surprises are buried deep in Bella's overstuffed menu.....A dinner entree shows Castillo-Ritz's Salvadorian penchant for red beans and rice when paired with a grilled skirt steak.

* Ethni-City Locating authentic dishes in Charlotte

by tricia childress

* A Hot Scoop The Loop Pizza Grill

by jana k. nordstrand

* How Sweet It Is Say hola to Dulce de Leche

by linda vespa

Memphis Commercial Appeal on creme brulee ...

as well as an article worth reading: Artistry with omelet typical of Julia Child

The Nashville Tennessean has several articles:

* Got lunch plans? nice article on unusual places for lunch ...

* Wolfgang offers express meals for home cook, too .. all about his newest cookbook

* There's nothing like Mama's cooking

* AFTER FIVE RECIPES Add colors to salad with oranges and spinach

* Sauté turkey breast slices after work

* Reel in fish on way home for oven dish

also in the Tennessean each week are Jim Myers' restaurant reviews .. a sample of his review on Whitfields:

Whitfield's is the latest in the string of upscale restaurants shifting down the fancy scale to the next lower rung, calling it ''upscale casual'' to drive more, and regular, traffic through the door.The food is quite good and shows the hand of a confident chef in the kitchen .... Four seafood selections cover the fish spectrum for most diners, including trout and salmon. The grouper ($19) I tried was firm and rich and had a nicely balanced citrus beurre blanc that softened the tart bite of the mango salsa on top.

Richmond.com, Virginia has a number of restaurant reviews to check out for the local people:

Restaurant Reviews:

* David vs. Goliath

* Hot for Thai Food

* The Eat Beat

* Un-Chained Melody

* Much Ado About Something

* Going Down The Nile

* Classic Italian

St Augustine, Florida has a variety of good articles on food this week:

* An elegant tradition CHEF ANDREA ESTES First Coast Technical Institute'sSchool of Culinary Arts

* Savory Sage: Stuff the bird andnot yourself on T-day

* Select palatable but inexpensive wine for cooking

Triangle.com offers up a lot of new reading:

* Cary sizzles

* Catering to your whims

* Google-what?

* Good times roll in Cary

* Raleigh gets The Point

* Downtown Clayton goes gourmet ....This small town on the outskirts of the Triangle

The Raleigh News & Observer has articles this week which I found to be quite seasonal and, therefore, of great interest:'

* Harvest fall recipes

So after a lot of playing around in my kitchen, I've developed the two recipes below. Both seem to say "harvest time" without turning the corner too quickly into winter. The acorn squash, with the heat of the curry and sweetness of the apricot preserves, seems destined for holiday tables. The braised cabbage is one of those recipes in which pork fat rules. Add a little interest with the mustard, use a beer to braise the cabbage in, and hey, how bad can that be? Pork, beer, mustard.

* Some Capital recipes

* Shaking the salt habit

* The Wine List Tastings

BACCHUS WINE COMPANY Holiday wine tasting, Nov. 12, 7-9 p.m., 1002 Durham Road, Ste. 200, Wake Forest. $15. For reservations, 488-7788.

CAROLINA WINE COMPANY Wines and Values Part II, Nov. 11, 6:30 p.m. $25. 6601 Hillsborough St., #118, Raleigh. 852-0236.

CHAPEL HILL WINE COMPANY Stuff This demo, Saturday, 1-4 p.m. Airport and Homestead Roads, Chapel Hill. Free. 968-1884.

HILLSBOROUGH WINE COMPANY Wine and cheese sampling, Saturday, 2-4 p.m., free. 200 S. Churton St., Hillsborough. 732-4343.

SEABOARD WINE WAREHOUSE New Spanish and Chilean wines, Saturday, noon-4 p.m. Free. 800 Semart Drive, Raleigh. 831-0850.

A SOUTHERN SEASON Pinot Noir, Thursday, free. Fridays Uncorked: Benefits of Age, Friday, 5 p.m. $12. University Mall, Chapel Hill. 929-7133.

THE WINE MERCHANT Joseph Drouhin's wines of Burgundy, France, Saturday, noon-4 p.m. 1214 Ridge Road, Raleigh. Free.

Have a marvelous week .. enjoy the changing colors of the leaves, if you have that in your part of the country .. relish the chill in the air which will serve to inspire you to cooking of the new season ... :smile:

Be sure to check out our sister forum here at eGullet on Southern Food Culture ... :biggrin: right here!

If you want your southeastern city's media included in this digest, please send me a PM ... :wink:

Gifted Gourmet · November 15, 2004

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . . The emphasis is, of course, on Thanksgiving and many of the articles have to do with the distinctly southern take on this holiday.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is doing a beautiful pre-Thanksgiving piece on desserts for the holiday:

Imagine a profusion of towering tender layer cakes slathered in buttery frosting, golden pecan pies, burnt sienna-colored pumpkin pies, cinnamon-kissed apple pies, amber peanut brittle and bubbling cobblers. These are old friends that visit every November and evoke fond taste memories from my childhood and remind me of where I came from. Aunt Louise always prepares caramel cake, a high-sugar masterpiece expressing the genius of the Southern sweet tooth.

Recipes include:

Aunt Louise's Red Velvet Cake

Meme's Poundcake

All-American Pie Crust

Mama's Pecan Pie

Italian Cream Cake

Cream Cheese Frosting

Old fashioned Fruit Cobbler

Caramel Layer Cake

Burnt Caramel Frosting

Old-Fashioned Apple Pie

Atlanta Creative Loafing has a remarkable interview with John T. Edge of SFA!

"Fried chicken is best served without a side of provincial bluster," begins John T. Edge's just-published treatise-cum-travelogue, Fried Chicken: An American Story.New England surprised me in terms of apple pie. If you're a good eater and a student of American food and curious about the subject, you have an inkling of what's out there. in my opinion, fried chicken still matters to Atlanta. I see it in the stories people still tell about Deacon Burton. I see it in the sense of excitement that surrounds Scott Peacock's Tuesday fried chicken night at Watershed. And I see a measure of what Atlanta's become at the Harue Cafe [where they serve Korean-style fried chicken].

Other articles worth checking out in CL:

* Chef's Table Killer food on tap

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* Simmer down Six spots for soothing, restorative soup

BY BILL ADDISON

* With love from Peru The Amazon presents beautiful, affordable Peruvian cuisine

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Kitchen Witch Sock it to 'em with sauce

BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Your new watering hole South African winemakers get the funk out

BY TAYLOR EASON

* The Wine List

BY TAYLOR EASON

* Gypsy lure A first visit to Django, plus Khao debuts with Asian carryout

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Come fly with me Romance after dark at Candler Park's Flying Biscuit

BY FLORENCE BYRD

access atlanta from The AJC reviews Vine:

The truth is, Vine just tries too hard. Or maybe it doesn't try hard enough. It's a neighborhood restaurant with illusions of grandeur. But by the time you've visited a few times, it feels false and pretentious. And that's a shame, because the staff is young and sincere. Couldn't we all just relax and admit that this is just a neighborhood joint that should be serving the kind of dishes we all want to come to know and love?

The Charleston Post & Courier offers up a delightful bowlful of peanut soup, an old southern favorite:

I carried myself back to old Virginny the day after the election to visit my mother. The first commercial peanut crop in Virginia was grown in Sussex County, in the early to mid-1840s. During most of the 1800s, however, peanuts were considered undistinguished fare. Attitudes changed during the Civil War when troops were hungry and food was scarce.Peanut soup isn't as strange as it sounds, considering that peanuts are really legumes, not nuts. (Think bean soup.) It had its roots in Africa, where many of the best Southern dishes got their start.

The Charlotte Observer has a number of interesting articles this week:

Kathleen Purvis' article is an eye-opener:

The chefs of Charleston ....Culinary trailblazers saw potential in city, and that led to a `30-year overnight success'.

Chefs who came to Charleston looked at local history and local ingredients and saw something special."People like Donald Barrickman (of Magnolia and Blossom) and myself and Louis Osteen, and the people who came before us," says Lee. "This is a 30-year overnight success. It's come from two generations of people supporting cuisine.""You have the seafood, the truck farmers (on the surrounding sea islands), the Lowcountry and its history," plus the city's slave history and native African ingredients. "All these things came together to make a culinary destination."

Charlotte Creative Loafing has some very engaging articles thus week:

* Fast and Fresh Buy global, eat local

by tricia childress

* Pom Power The seeds of health

by linda vespa

* What's For Tizzert? Tiz Benson's sweet odyssey

by jana k. nordstrand

On average, Tizzerts makes 300 to 400 cakes a week, ranging from carrot cakes, to brownies, to wedding cakes, and she adopts the same philosophy with each cake. "We like for any of our cakes to look as pleasing on the outside as it is on the inside. We use softer colors. The Tizzerts look is a little bit more of a muted palette, more natural looking. We do things more naturally and it has a very special look and we try to keep things simple."

* Kitchen Witch Sock it to 'em with sauce

by kim o'donnel

* Your New Watering Hole South African wine makers get the funk out

by taylor eason

* It's Your Bird Day Be thankful for someone else's cooking

by tricia childress

Memphis Commercial Appeal has something for everyone in its articles this week:

* Beware of overcooked meat at pricey Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

* Riding The Wave

People liked what he was doing, so Smith decided to open his own place -- a seafood restaurant with "a lot of Asian ingredients" and an "upscale, casual, funky atmosphere." "Tsunami," which means "a huge wave caused by unusual seismic activity," fit his concept: "It's a Japanese word, so right there you have the Asian influence. It's water. It's very Hawaiian 'cause everybody in Hawaii knows what 'tsunami' is. And it's a quirky name. Who names a restaurant after a natural disaster?" Tsunami, which opened in 1998, was no disaster; the sea bass was a particular hit.

* Corky's celebrates 20th with Food Bank drive

* Stitt offers freshness, and new book too ...Owner of Birmingham's Highlands Bar and Grill

* Thanksgiving, Italian style? Try this roast turkey

The Nashville Tennessean has some terrific items this week for your perusal:

* The Traditional Thanksgiving, or is it? Blend together recipes from friends and families for a feast under $50

Symbolic of our coming together, we'll go with a combination of sweet and red potatoes, carrots and onions dubbed Can't We All Get Along Roasted Roots. The spirited debate over sweet vs. mashed potatoes prompted this compromise — Smother them with gravy and you won't know what color of potato you're eating anyway. Mindy's Cranberry Fruit Salad is the result of my personal crusade to add more color and crisp texture to the classic, brown, mushy Thanksgiving dinner. One crazy year I added dried figs — don't bother.

* Jewish food explored in film at festival

* Building a wine cellar for beginners

* Where to learn more about wine

* From vineyards and varieties to corkscrews and cooling, here's a novice's guide to stocking a wine cellar

AFTER FIVE RECIPES

* Hungarian paprika puts pep in pasta

* Sweet potato, apple flavors meld for fall

The Raleigh News & Observer has a number of articles worthy of being read:

* Triangle kids say cheese for Kraft Photo of Knightdale children will grace macaroni and cheese boxes.

* Praise for the pieman Americans tend to stay away from savory meat and potato pies.

* First in entertaining Sometimes exotic taste sensations are much closer than you think.

* Cheeses that please You can create an elegant cheese board spotlighting locally produced products.

Dancing Doe Dairy in Pittsboro offers aged goat cheese, which has a firmer, drier texture and more intense flavor than fresh chevre. The cheese is available at the Pittsboro Farmers Market. Besides conventional goat cheeses, Goat Lady Dairy, located west of the Triangle near Climax, makes goat's-milk Camembert and Taleggio, plus, for the holidays, chocolate goat-cheese truffles. The items are sold primarily in Greensboro and Winston-Salem markets, but can also be purchased at the farm.

* Fritters from Magnolia Grill Chef shares deluxe caviar-topped take on a potluck dinner classic.

* We even make the dishes Serve foods and wines of North Carolina on dishes made in the state.

* The grapes of home This may be the year to look homeward for a special wine.

*The Wine List Tastings

* California corn pone? Traditional corn pone is an early American type of cornbread.

Have a marvelous week and check back with the Digest during the week for suggestions from the local media on Thanksgiving!

Also be sure to check out our sister forum on Southern Food Culture for some new ideas!

Gifted Gourmet · November 21, 2004

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . . The emphasis is, of course, almost entirely focused upon Thanksgiving in all of the media covered here! And that is a good thing indeed! :biggrin:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution serves up their Thanksgiving repast in an article There's something for everyone to do when bringing annual feast to the table :

The key to pulling off a successful, stress-free Turkey Day for many Atlantans these days boils down to one word: delegate!
Creative Loafing dining critic Bill Addison also loves to host friends for dinner. "The art of compromise is important," says Addison. The former pastry chef likes to dazzle guests with baked treats and a few creative side dishes, like his creamed spinach with caramelized onions and cheddar and brussels sprouts steamed in Guinness Ale.

There are actually several stories of people who have arrived at their own traditions for this holiday .. interesting collection indeed! :wink:

Recipes this week:

Sweet Potato Casserole With Brown-Sugar Pecan Topping

Chevre, Asparagus and Prosciutto Souffle

Super Veggie Salad

Luna's Garlic-Rosemary Turkey With Mushroom Gravy

Corn Bread-Pecan Dressing

Creamed Spinach-Caramelized Onion Casserole

Cranberry-Pear Chutney

Apple-Cranberry Caramel Pie

Atlanta Creative Loafing has their own take on the holiday in the form of:Straight turkey talk: CL's slightly irreverent but wholly helpful 8-day guide to getting Thanksgiving dinner on the table

The sides: I refuse to discuss the sweet pota-to marshmallow combination. I find it repulsive and believe that sweet potatoes deserve a more dignified role at the table...... Today's the day to pick up the items on your grocery list. Try to avoid the market on Wednesday, when people are stressed out, tired and mean. ......It is unnecessary to wake up at dawn to put the turkey in the oven. Whoever told you this horrible old wives' tale should be punished..... Then it's time to carve. Then, smile. Scream. Give yourself a high-five. You made it. Let's eat!

Birmingham, AL, News A family Thanksgiving

It's all in the family for Michael Glenn, as several generations prepare feasts for others

Glenn, a local chef who is a caterer, planned a menu that not only would please the palate but also the eyes.
A beautiful ham, scored in a diamond pattern, topped with a coating of a mixture of mustard, brown sugar and cloves, was baked before it became the centerpiece of the dinner table. Glenn prepared boned chicken breasts filled with a sage stuffing and rolled. A delicious corn-cranberry relish gave off jewel tones to the table, and a perennial favorite, stuffed eggs, had an unusual ingredients in addition to yolks — cream cheese and mashed potatoes. Corn muffins made with Indian corn were accompaniments to the dinner. Sweet potato tartlets with a shortbread crust and a topping of fresh raspberries provided a visual and appetizing sweet.

Now this is one meal I would have loved to see and taste! :biggrin:

Charleston Post & Courier has a superb opening article: Simple, easy-to-prepare dishes won't tax the cook or compete with the main attraction BY NATHALIE DUPREE :

Even though it is my favorite holiday meal, I've gotten selfish about Thanksgiving. I still enjoy cooking ahead of time and the whole production of the day, but when Thanksgiving dinner suddenly intrudes itself into an already busy schedule, it's time to look at what's important and what's not. I've decided that having the traditional groaning table of side dishes, done in the same old way, is not crucial to happiness. I want simplicity. My happiness at Thanksgiving, and that of my husband's, has become less dependent on food and more on grandchildren time. (Oh, yes, and their parents, too.)

Natalie Dupree's recipes include:

Roasted Vegetables

Barley "Risotto" With Mushrooms

Broccoli with Roasted Garlic Butter

Scalloped Yams With Praline Topping

Turnips and Red Peppers

Hot Curried Dried Fruit and anything from Natalie Dupree, I treat with the utmost reverence .. she is truly the doyenne of Southern cooking: She lives in Charleston, is the former director of Rich's Cooking School in Atlanta, the author of eight cookbooks, including "Nathalie Dupree's Comfortable Entertaining."

The Charlotte Observer articles include:

* Turkey-day countdown.... The Essential guide to Thanksgiving has everything for a flawless meal.

* BASICS Turkey 101 | Recipes | Help?

*TOOLS: Shopping List | Table setting

*IDEAS Recipe classics | Holiday dieting

*WINE | Go for fruity for holidays

Charlotte Creative Loafing articles for this week include:

* Charlotte Cooks Chef's Choice courses at JWU take the cake

by tricia childress

* Cutting Edge Southern writer John T. Edge explores America's foods by bill addison

* Liquid Offerings Wine for the birds

by tricia childress

* Corn Cob Hype It's more than decor

by linda vespa

Memphis Commercial Appeal has some good reading this week:

* The Forum delivers, but some of the vendors fling up an air ball

The new FedExForum is so cool. From the soaring entry to the cushy chairs in the last row of the nosebleed section, this is truly a world-class arena. Unfortunately, the fan fare is no slam dunk. Though the concession stands have clever names such as Snax, Juke Joint Subs and Rock Around the Clock Cafe, there is a dull sameness to the menus.

* Try a pinot noir with turkey dinner

* Fall's root vegetables take starring role in soup

* Baby food makes carrot cake moister

* Frozen turkey a no-brainer

The Nashville Tennessean has some fine articles on this holiday as well:

A traditional Thanksgiving, give or take, is the lead article here:

Forgetting my annual ''themed'' agenda with over-wrought recipes such as that Indian cranberry chutney, the yin and yang swirl of sweet and white mashed potatoes and the Rhode Island clam stuffie dressing, this year's feast is all about blending friends and family and each sharing favorites at the table. Though not a perfect meal by any gourmand's standards, a mish-mash of recipes from everyone is simply good eating and creates new traditions. Invite a dish from a favorite relative or friend and they're with you in body or spirit.

The Orlando Sentinel has a piece on cranberries, which is seasonally appropriate, by Heather McPherson .... some new suggestions as well:

It's the dawning of the Age of the Cranberry for folks like me. For the uninitiated, here are some tips for enjoying the flavor of cranberries all year long.
* Fresh berries may be stored in the refrigerator, just as you bought them, for up to 1 month. For longer storage, double-wrap and store in the freezer for up to 9 months.
* Mix chopped cranberries with softened unsalted butter for spreading on warm biscuits, corn muffins, pancakes or waffles. Or, use the cranberry butter as a topping on broiled snapper.
* Cook cranberries with red cabbage, raisins and wine; serve with pork or ham.
* For a tangy barbecue sauce, use whole-berry cranberry sauce for the sticky and sweet aspects of your own homemade concoctions.
* Use cranberry juice to poach fruit.
*For holiday sparkle on the table, surround candles with fresh berries or float berries in flower vases.

The Raleigh News & Observer offers more than the usual turkey and stuffing items this week .. a welcome addition!

* Pack a peck of picadillo

By about next Sunday, you will probably be pretty sick of turkey and all its accoutrements. Even as much as I love a turkey sandwich with a little cranberry sauce, by the fourth day, I'm in the mood for something diametrically opposed to anything that resembles a Norman Rockwell holiday table. The problem is that from now till New Year's there is precious little time to have a life, much less cook anything other than the typical holiday fare......

* Beginning traditions

Newlywed learns to prepare holiday meal with all the trimmings -- just for two.

* A final round of fair fare The last winning recipe comes from Monique May of Raleigh.

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20.

* Heaven on earth with an eggplant slice

Eggplant Paradise is one of Sage restaurant's most popular offerings.

A very happy, healthy, memory-filled, Thanksgiving for you eGulleters, and even more specifically, for those of you who read this Southeast Forum Digest each and every week! :wink:

Please be sure to check the eGullet Southern Food Culture Forum for some terrific ideas as well! :biggrin:

Gifted Gourmet · December 3, 2004

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has an exceptionally interesting article on pressure cookers by John Kessler:

the pressure cooker is the single most important piece of equipment in the kitchen. It does a brilliant job with whole grains. It tenderizes tough cuts of meat and drives aromatic flavorings deep into their fibers. It reduces cooking times by two-thirds or more....Everyone's mother blew up a pressure cooker. Mention the dreaded device and you will hear stories of lamb stew on the ceiling, permanently traumatized cats and even chicken bones sticking out of walls. That is why your mother's pressure cooker was hidden in a dark corner of the basement and never heard from again.
Why did pressure cooking go so dreadfully wrong in America, and why did it become so essential elsewhere?

do read this article for further pleasure and edification!

Pressure cooker recipes this week include

Beef Stew With Tomatoes and Chipotle Peppers

Punjabi Buttery Black Lentils (Dal Makhani)

Turkish Olive Oil-Braised Green Beans (Zaytinyagli Taze Fasdlye)

Short Ribs in Coconut Milk

Lemon Cheesecake

Another article this week is about what one can do to use up leftover cranberries and includes recipes for:

Seared Salmon With Cranberry-Mustard Vinaigrette

Seared Sea Scallops With Cranberry-Lime Sauce

Cranberry-Horseradish Sauce

Cranberry Ice Cream

Atlanta Creative Loafing has an exceptonally fine collection of articles for the first week in December:

* Green around the (mock) gills: Inman Park's Lush strives to find its vegetarian soul

BY BILL ADDISON

* Bella of the ball: Bella's Pizzeria proves good pizza doesn't have to be chichi

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* When pigs fly: A first trot to Au Pied de Cochon

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

What is immediately lovable about this new brasserie -- besides the fact that it is open 24 hours -- is its decor. Its walls contain 337 panels painted in fanciful rococo style -- see pigs fly, see pigs at pasture -- by the same artist who decorated the Mexico City location of the restaurant. Chandeliers are made of colored glass. A seafood raw bar glistens near the entrance. There are private dining rooms for trysting behind heavy red velvet drapes. A chef's table, which is also the site of the daily lunch buffet, offers a view of the kitchen.

* Nice buns: Five ethnic bakeries for fun, funky treats

BY BILL ADDISON

*Will work for (slow) food

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* No parking on the dancefloor: Buckhead's Aiko proves more nightclub than supper club

BY FLORENCE BYRD

* Pomegranate 101: A primer on the 'it' fruit

BY KIM O'DONNEL

The Birmingham (Alabama) News has a piece on shrimp and grits dishes this week which I enjoyed:

Damon Lee Fowler, in his book, "New Southern Kitchen," (Simon & Schuster, 2002) says of shrimp and grits, "This traditional breakfast dish has also, in recent years, become a staple dinner appetizer in any nouvelle Southern restaurant worth its herb garnish. "Breakfast shrimp is not so much a recipe as it is an idea. There are dozens of variations, from simple bowls of boiled shrimp and grits passed separately to those elaborate, complexly flavored nouvelle concoctions. The best is still the simplest: freshly caught shrimp are peeled, sauteed in copious quantities of butter, and poured over a snowy bed of slow-cooked grits. If the shrimp have never been frozen, I wouldn't make it any other way."

The Charleston Post and Courier has a number of articles which anticipate the upcoming holidays:

* Getting in the party mood

GuÈrard let loose on her vision. She painted the birch branches. She pulled out stored glass containers, two rectangular and one tall, urn-shaped vase, and filled them with the pears. She stood the painted branches up in the rectangular vases, and placed them on either side of the vase on the table. She covered the table in the dried moss. To add some sparkle, she hollowed out a few of the pears and placed tea lights inside, turning them into distinctive votives. The whole effect was stunning, a table made fit for delicious food. For GuÈrard, the whole is the sum of its parts when giving a party. She loves good food and drink, and strives to set a stage for guests to enjoy them fully.

* Weigh cost, time, preparation when planning party menu

* Spices add flair, zing to creative cooking

TODAY'S TOPIC: Storage and usage of popular holiday spices

* Cookbooks for holiday navigation

* Party food series begins with spinach balls

The Charlotte Observer has a wonderful article by Kathi Purvis, Casserole on a roll:

Campbell's classic casserole, originally called the Green Bean Bake, turns 50 next year, the greatest example of successful food marketing since the Toll House cookie. Then again, look at the casserole recipe: Five ingredients. Four steps. Looks like modern American cooking, doesn't it? The original casserole had the makings of a Thanksgiving staple from the very beginning. It's simple, it's cheap, you can make it in advance. And it puts a vegetable on the table disguised under creamy sauce and a crunchy snack food. The Green Bean Bake even has a tale. How could you not love a casserole story that includes a woman named Dorcas?

Read on and enjoy yourself as I did! Purvis gives three recipes to update this old classic:

GREEN BEAN BAKE .. the original down to the soy sauce

JUDICIOUSLY UPDATED GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE .....From "It's All American Food," by David Rosengarten

REALLY FANCY GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE....by the editors of Cook's Illustrated

Charlotte Creative Loafing has some terrific stories worth looking into as well this week:

* East Meets West: Vietnamese restaurant is an American dream

by tricia childress

* Threesomes: Where to get that staple of Southern cuisine

by tricia childress

the Meat and Threes in Charlotte are owned by Greek families and have been around for decades. Meat and Threes are also a nexus into Soul or Southern country food. In either case, however, the customer base is the same. You can see construction workers and attorneys, politicians and sales clerks. Typically, the sides include collards, pinto beans, cole slaw, mashed potatoes, field peas, beets, rice, steamed cabbage, succotash and potato salad. Inclusive with the meat entree is also corn bread or biscuits (or both) and usually a glass of sweet or unsweetened tea.

* Think Zink: Zink. American Kitchen

by jana k. nordstrand

* What Is It This Month? The gift that keeps on giving

by linda vespa

* Thinking Outside The Bottle: Wine gifts that go beyond the usual gadgets

by taylor eason

Memphis Commercial Appeal offers up a bouquet of good food articles:

* Take a 'cue, this joint worth a visit: The best barbecue is served in places that are like your favorite pair of sneakers -- worn, not-too-pretty, completely comfortable.

* Falafel, hummus bring Jews back to their roots:

when the Maccabee brothers found a small amount of the precious oil in the Temple of Jerusalem, after it had been devastated by the Assyrians, the vial miraculously lasted not as it should have for one day, but for eight days, and a national holiday began. Since then Hanukkah has been celebrated for eight days as a reminder of the miracle of oil in the Temple of Jerusalem. Surely during the time of the Maccabees potatoes were not eaten at Hannukah. My guess is other fried foods were served similar to bumuelos, a sephardic fried dough either made savory with onions and flour or sweet like loukamades, the ancient deep-fried dough soaked in honey from Greece that is still eaten today.

* Star of 'Good Eats' has key to success

* Culinary academy students in chef's comfort zone

* Little shrimp not redundant at seafood counter

* Vegetable soup tasty, quick and simple

The Nashville Tennessean is preparing for the Christmas season in a big way with their articles this week:

* The desserts of Christmas past

English scones and plum pudding, German fruit stollen and Italian cream cake. Early settlers in Tennessee and Virginia very likely celebrated the Christmas season with these traditional holiday sweets from their homelands. This weekend in Goodlettsville, and throughout the season in your own kitchen, you can taste them, too. Reenactors will honor the holiday season Saturday and Sunday at historic Mansker's Station Frontier Life Center's Yulefest.

Recipes include:

Orange currant scones

Italian cream cake with cream cheese frosting

Plum pudding with whiskey hard sauce

Cheese drop biscuits

Italian panettone

The St. Petersburg Times has a sweet collection of treats, The Joy of Cookies for Christmas:

* Roll out the cookies

Many home cooks are intimidated by the thought of making holiday cookies that look worthy of a magazine cover.

* How sweet it is

Butter, sugar, flour and eggs are the essence of cookies, but we know there's much more that flavors the perfect cookie.

* Their cookies, your cutters

For those people who have given up trying to make cut-out cookies but still have a box of cookie cutters, ask your local bakery if they will make the cookies for you.

The Tampa Tribune has an article or two to tickle your fancy:

* Who's Dreaming Of A White Fruitcake?

You've all heard from fruitcake detractors and know the fruitcake jokes, but there also are many fervent fans. She says the legendary Mrs. Harvey's White Fruitcake is tops because she likes the candied cherries and pineapples. She doesn't like the citron in most other fruitcakes. "It's the best fruitcake I've ever eaten,'' she says."My mother made it for years.'' The Tribune has made it a December tradition - every year since 1951 - publishing the now-famous recipe on the first week after Thanksgiving. Many readers say how much they liked Mrs. Harvey's version but somehow misplaced it. They call to have it reprinted. Again and again.

Needless to say, the recipe is right here in the article! Enjoy!

* A Decadent Display

* This Cheesecake's On A Roll

The Raleigh News & Observer has a collection of noteworthy articles appropriate for this season:

* Roll out the Red Velvet Cake

Fact of the matter is red velvet cake is just plain good, and this one is exceptional. Given to me by my friend Michael Rider, the icing strays from the norm to a wonderful chocolate and orange concoction. Notice the inclusion of White Lily flour, which uses less chlorine dioxide than any other brand to bleach its flour, according to a company spokesperson. Chlorine changes taste, especially in this recipe, which has so many other components. Remember, baking is pure chemistry. For the person who first made this cake work, thanks. We have something to speculate on while looking at a stunning cake for the holiday season.

The Recipe is also included:

Red Velvet Cake with Chocolate and Orange Liqueur Frosting :biggrin:

* Bogart these brownies: Bogart's American Grill is one of the hottest spots on trendy Glenwood South.

* Goodies for foodies: Our gift ideas should please both those who love to cook and those who love to eat.

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20.

* Angier church gathers recipes: The book blossoms into a hard-back, loose-leaf volume of 900 recipes.

As you prepare for the holidays this week and next, please watch eGullet for some superlative ideas for the season!

Have a marvelous week and eat with delight and abandon! Tis the season, you know! :laugh:

Gifted Gourmet · December 13, 2004

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution offers, as its lead article, a bevy of appetizers for the holidays article worth checking out:

Martyrs and deadline dynamos might live for that adrenaline rush of preparing everything in a last-minute frenzy as guests stampede through the door. Not yours truly. I believe in a well-considered plan of attack, in doing most of the work ahead of time and in patiently sitting back for the kudos to cascade in later. The key to managing all this? Nurturing an unshakable, unmistakable bond with your pal the freezer.

Recipes that accompany this article:

Empanadas de Picadillo

Moroccan-Style Chicken Phyllo Rolls

Baby No-Fry Egg Rolls

Barbecue Pork Buns

Mushroom Turnovers

Access Atlanta of the AJChas a review of a local restaurant called Grace 17:20 which sounds religious but also intriguing:

Faith the size of a mustard seed is how Matthew 17:20 goes.
Perhaps a little or all three — grace, faith and mustard seeds — are what go into the menu and makings of grace 17:20 in Norcross. Pedigree comes to mind as well, since the restaurant's managing partner, Barbara Di James, and the executive chef, Charles Schwab, have formidable culinary backgrounds. She polished her people skills at Sia's, and he is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, and honed his technique at Bacchanalia.

Atlanta Creative Loafing offers a number of interesting articles:

* Six standout books to sate a smorgasbord of appetites

BY BILL ADDISON

New releases include a blockbuster behemoth, a revised classic, a spate of books by renowned Southern chefs and food writers, and a collection of essays from one of the nation's more formidable restaurant critics. These six books cover a wide sweep of tastes and price ranges, but they each make for nourishing reading -- whether you're cranking up the stove or not.

Addison's suggestions:

Ruth Reichl's The Gourmet Cookbook (Houghton Mifflin, $40)

Frank Stitt's Southern Table: Recipes and Gracious Traditions from Highlands Bar and Grill (Artisan, $40)

Cornbread Nation 2: The United States of Barbecue (The University of North Carolina Press, $17.95)

Sweet Stuff: Karen Barker's American Desserts (The University of North Carolina Press, $29.95)

Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (Scribner, $35)

Alan Richman's Fork It Over: The Intrepid Adventures of a Professional Eater (HarperCollins, $24.95)

* Not by bread alone Soggy, sloppy food prevails for now at Fat Louie's

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Giving thanks, Moroccan-style A holiday visit to Imperial Fez

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Bowl me over Six pasta joints to warm your innards on a chilly Atlanta day

BY BILL ADDISON

* Chef's Table Power to the Fifth

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* Righteous, dude Damn fine pub grub at mellow Righteous Room

BY FLORENCE BYRD

* Kitchen Witch Pass the pate, love

BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Liquid Diet Eye-opener

BY TONY WARE

* Eat, drink, get Rudolph-faced The 12 annoyances of Christmas defy moderation

BY TAYLOR EASON

The Charleston Post & Courier

has one main article which might be helpful for those of us who anticipate a holiday crush of activities:

Recipes come in handy when extra family arrives for holidays For many people, the next three weeks will be a whirlwind of activity. Shopping, of course, has to be fitted in with hanging lights, decorating, wrapping presents, writing cards, fancy parties or casual get-togethers, planning menus and getting ready for guests. Not to mention our jobs, cleaning the house, church work, doctor and hair appointments, shuttling the kids or the pets, or whatever keeps us busy the rest of the year.

and there are numerous recipes and suggestions ...

The Charlotte Observer has a number of pre-holiday pieces which might be to your liking:

Kathleen Purvis' Make it fast Turn your kitchen into a haven from holiday rush with tips from this chef, Johnson & Wales University instructor Jerry Lanuzza

Tip 2: "The thing to remember is, use your time wisely."In the kitchen-classroom, Lanuzza and three assistants from the school's fulltime student body quickly divide a group of 20 students into four teams, each stationed at a steel worktable with a menu of four dishes. Planning before you cook is key, Lanuzza explains. Get the main dish ready and in the oven before you start the side dish. Get the dessert ready so it can bake while you eat the main meal. "It's more a matter of time management than, `oh my gosh, this is so hard.' "

* MORE FAST TIPS: 10 Pantry Stuffers

* JOURNAL Much done, and much to do

* WINE Mention in movie boosts winery

Charlotte Creative Loafing has several articles worth reading this week as well:

* Major Mojo Revision A Cuban revolution for the taste buds

by tricia childress

Castro's rise to power caused a wave of Cuban immigration into south Florida, forever changing the culinary traditions of that state. Stone crabs met the ubiquitous mojo, a tart, garlicky sauce made with sour orange juice and olive oil, as common to Cuban tables as ketchup is to American ones.

* Hello, Deli Now that's a sandwich!

by tricia childress

* Eye On The Prize Perseverence pays off for local chef

by jana k. nordstrand

* Visions Of What? Sugarplums revealed

by linda vespa

* Good Eats

Our critics' guide to recommended restaurants in Charlotte

Memphis Commercial Appeal this week:

* Simply Italian and consistently Bari, with no red sauce allowed

I still like the ultra-basic grilled fresh sardines -- three grilled sardines on a plate with a touch of lemon and olive oil tasting as if they just hopped over from the sea; the sumptuous grilled swordfish with a balsamic reduction, mint, red onion and tomatoes; and, perhaps the best, roasted sea bass, a beautifully tender portion, served with celeriac, yellow bell pepper and lemon. An order for polpette brings three full-flavored veal meatballs bearing shavings of Parmesan cheese.

* A&R Bar-B-Que

* Azalea Grill

* High prices need some vine-tuning What's red and green and juicy and causes sticker shock?

* Lots of gourmet treats await discovery in the online aisles

The Nashville Tennessean offers a variety of festive articles this week:

* Melting pot Take a trip around the world by sampling ethnic desserts you can find in Nashville:

Nashville, we hardly recognize you. Who would have thought just a few short years ago that a native Nashvillian would be able to score some green coconut-flavored Laotian gelatin, a Vietnamese black-eyed pea, rice and coconut milk sweet treat, and flaky French pastries made by Chinese nationals trained in Japan? Well, hallelujah for the melting pot, because some of these sweets are give-me-a-third-helping good.

* Light up the night with Winter White

* Cookies for Christmas

* Melting pot

* Fake-believe

* Pair soup, salad for nice supper

* Sausage helps cure turkey, ham hangover

* One-pot meal does double duty

The Orlando Sentinel has their food editor Heather McPherson's article Make yuletide bright, colorful when you toast season

Ordinarily I live by one rule when it comes to imbibing: Never drink anything the color of baby clothes. Beer, scotch or wine. Fine. Bring on the pastels and creamy stuff, and alert the hangover police. But the holidays bring out the best in bartenders at places such as the Bösendorfer Lounge at the Westin Grand Bohemian and the lobby lounges at the Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes and J.W. Marriott. Think of a theme, and a mixologist (how's that for cranking up the hoity-toity?) can come up with any concoction to toast the holidays. I'm such a Christmas fanatic, I have to admit that I am tempted from time to time to expand my cocktail color wheel.

The Raleigh News & Observer offers its readers a number of interesting articles which relate to food and the holidays:

* Kids get into action UNC-Chapel Hill and Gatorade form $4 million partnership to help prevent childhood obesity.

* Pass the fish, hold the statin

Exercise and fatty fish can help protect us from heart disease.

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20. Wines mentioned are available locally; prices are suggested retail.

* Recipes to serve up gratitude

These books will be a welcome addition to the collection of someone who loves to cook

* Artful dishes from Blue Ridge

Blue Ridge restaurant is justifiably famous for its Sunday brunch.
Blue Ridge is justifiably famous for its Sunday brunch, but regular patrons know a secret: Andy Hicks, chef and general manager of the museum's restaurant, is capable of much more than fanciful variations on the eggs Benedict theme.
Hick's soul-warming rendition of Cassoulet, the classic French casserole of white beans and assorted meats, is one prime example. Another is Roasted Pork Loin with Spicy Cheddar Grits and Apple Cranberry Compote.

Recipes are included! :biggrin:

Have a great week, stay warm, and enjoy your holiday preparations! Check back next week for more recipes in the media outlets of the Southeast! :biggrin:

Gifted Gourmet · December 19, 2004

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . . the overall theme is, of course, preparations for Christmas ...

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a seasonally-appropriate story Design a table and a menu that makes seldom-used china the star of the season which offers several extremely perceptive ideas and tips from several local designers:

"It's always great to use fabulous, incredible china," said caterer Tony Conway, who often helps clients incorporate their good dinnerware with tabletop as well as menu advice. "We eat with our eyes. So we have to ask, 'How do we make that food pop?' I think it all does have to coordinate." If your china has an intricate pattern, for instance, don't try to out-busy it with drizzled sauces or patchwork-colored foods. They'll just get lost on the plate. Instead, Conway said, think about blocks of color: a bed of haricots verts, for instance, topped with a halibut fillet, topped with a garnish of shredded beets.

Well worth your time in reading for some superbly conceived ideas for holiday dining!

Recipes from the AJC this week include:

Miniature Pumpkins Filled With Root Vegetable Mash

Haricots Verts With Garlic Butter

Seared Lamb Chops With Dijon Crust

White Chocolate Lemon Cake

Winter Mixed Green Salad With Cranberries and Goat Cheese

This week's AJC Access Atlanta has a review of the very elegant and highly creative local restaurant, Park 75:

Enter the restaurant's former sous chef, Robert Gerstenecker, who left for a two-year stint at the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach and has returned as the Atlanta property's executive chef, with Camron Woods as sous chef. What a difference a chef makes. Eating Gerstenecker's cooking feels a little like watching an Olympic ice skater: He makes it look so easy. Never mind that a venue such as the Four Seasons, or any large hotel, makes it difficult for a talented chef to tweak in just the right spots to make a name for himself without stirring up the corporate atmosphere. Gerstenecker is too subtle for that. His food is as grown-up as the restaurant: sophisticated, but not over the top. His eye and well-trained hand treat the offerings so delicately that you're left smitten without even realizing it, like getting a little giddy on a glass of champagne.

This is definitely a place to try!

Atlanta Creative Loafing has a nice selection of articles this week as usual:

*Showstopper Bollywood Masala Grill House may be ready for its close-up, but misses the mark with overly typical Indian fare

And you need to look beyond the first page of the menu to find it. The appetizers are largely underwhelming. Tiny samosa triangles appear fetching on the plate, like Indian hors d'oeuvres, but don't have enough lentil stuffing for a solid, toothy bite. Mutton pasanda turns out to be lifeless, flattened cutlets of lamb without any adornment to liven them up. Cubes of salmon marinated in yogurt are no match for the tandoor oven, which overcooks them to chewy blocks.

*Pot calling the crock ambrosial What A Crock! cranks out a lunch supreme

BY CYNTHIA WONG

*Bubbly bargains Add some sparkle to your season (and your wine)

BY TAYLOR EASON

*When the sun comes out Genuine warmth makes the meal at Buckhead's Soliel BY FLORENCE BYRD

*The road to righteous pasta A trip to the west side's Via Elisa

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

*Kitchen Witch Egg-cellent nog

BY KIM O'DONNEL

The Charleston Post & Courier

has a number of seasonal articles to check out:

*Sugar 'shacks'

McCrady's in downtown Charleston emerged as the winner against The Boathouse and Fish restaurants in the actual contest. Rupe, head pastry chef at McCrady's, says the hardest part was making sure all the sides were exact and fit together. The best part was the creative process with fellow workers, who set out to replicate the restaurant's historical building, which dates to 1788. If they got stuck, "we would just walk outside and look," Rupe says. "Does this go here?" They visited Market Street sweet shops for building supplies, such as stick candy for the roof, jelly beans for cobblestones, and candy Legos for the chimney. They made a lamppost out of a piece of striped stick candy and a piece of taffy studded with rock candy. They cut Big Red chewing gum into small pieces to make bricks -- lots of bricks.

*Hot drinks easy to make for holidays

*Readers contribute holiday appetizers

*Savory tartlets make handy hors d'oeuvres

*New Orleans barbecued shrimp not barbecued

*FRONT BURNER A cooking class for men only is getting the jump on Valentine's Day.

The Charlotte Observer opens with an article by Kathleen Purvis:

Lighten up Holiday dishes don't have to be humdrum for you to stay healthy

And the holidays are a six-week dash through the sexy foods.
Butter? Bring it on.
Sugar? Please -- and pass the salt while you're at it.
Egg nog, cheese balls, hand-dipped chocolates. If it isn't draped in caramel or spiked with peppermint, it isn't worth a hum or a bug. So we merrily nosh our way through the season, pushing down the rising guilt with the promise, Oh well -- I'll change in January. Then January comes. ...

Sifting through the holiday recipe file

Holiday recipes include:

AMBROSIA SALAD

LEMON BARS

MOLASSES SUGAR COOKIES

Charlotte Creative Loafing articles include the following:

*Wat's New Ethiopian treats in midtown

by tricia childress

Ethiopian cuisine. Berbere is a multi-dimensional chili mix which may be a blend of chili peppers, shallots, and as many as 15 spices which may include ginger, turmeric, salt, coriander, cumin, cloves, cardamom, allspice, fenugreek, cayenne, cinnamon, nutmeg, and black pepper. Berbere is the base for many stews and the exact recipe is typically a highly prized family secret. A mild condiment made from this spice mix is awaze, thickened with honey wine, and butter. If you want more pepper pow, order the dishes with Mitmita, the Ethiopian version of the three-alarm chili mix. At Meskerem, the kitchen faithfully reproduces dishes that have been emerging from Ethiopian kitchens for centuries and are producing first-rate wats.

*Meals with Zeal Bistro serves up New Zealand cuisine

by jana k. nordstrand

*Soup's On Soup in a can can be good

by tricia childress

*Party Time Frolic & play the etiquette way

by linda vespa

*Egg-cellent nog by kim o'donnel

*Bubbly Bargains Add some sparkle to your season (and your wine).

by taylor eason

*Good Eats Our critics' guide to recommended restaurants in Charlotte

All Around Town

Memphis Commercial Appeal has a number of interesting articles and recipes for the season:

*Erika's German & American Restaurant

The traditional German favorites are still made from scratch, even the heavenly yeast rolls that greet guests while they study the menu. It's easy to fill up on those gems, so pace yourself. The selection of entrees changes daily at lunch. On Fridays, it's schnitzel cordon bleu, schweinebraten (roast pork loin), or broiled fish. On Tuesdays, diners can order rahm schnitzel -- a cream gravy smothered version of the sauteed veal cutlet -- meatloaf or goulash. Don't expect the spicy Hungarian-inspired goulash, though. This version was more like beef tips over noodles ....The dish, "sour roast," is beef that's typically marinated and cooked in a sour/sweet mixture. Erika's sauerbraten is tender, sliced roast smothered in gravy that has a faint sour note.

*Burgers, fries his meat and potatoes

*Wrapping up cooking

*Personalities flavor these troves of Southern ways

*Three levels of Italian: easy, slow and classic

*Top chefs' cooking toys get once-over

*Lamb recipes offer slice of Greek history

*Cream rated by fat content

The Nashville Tennessean

Melting pot Take a trip around the world by sampling ethnic desserts you can find in Nashville:

Nashville, we hardly recognize you. Who would have thought just a few short years ago that a native Nashvillian would be able to score some green coconut-flavored Laotian gelatin, a Vietnamese black-eyed pea, rice and coconut milk sweet treat, and flaky French pastries made by Chinese nationals trained in Japan?
Well, hallelujah for the melting pot, because some of these sweets are give-me-a-third-helping good. True, others of those we discovered may taste a bit strange to the uninitiated, especially for anyone who thinks something like jam with seeds is exotic enough, thank you
give one or more of these international desserts a try.
Indian Paan
Persian ice cream
Vietnamese sesame balls
Cuban Pudin de Pan
Alpha bakery snowball

The Orlando Sentinel has a wonderful article by Heather McPherson:

My mentor and friend, Dorothy Chapman, 83, died Sunday evening at Westminster Towers in Orlando after a long battle with cancer. In 1986, Chapman retired from her post as the food editor, and as copy chief for the Newsfeatures sections, I helped hire her replacement...Dorothy and I were foodies cut from the same cheesecloth. We both came from news backgrounds but we had passions for great food and wine. When I took this job, I quickly learned I had to earn the respect of the culinary community that Dorothy had cultivated. Within months, the proof was dealt in about 1,000 business cards. I would go out on interviews and politely introduce myself as the food editor of the Orlando Sentinel, only to repeatedly hear the response: "No you aren't. Dorothy Chapman is the food editor."

The Raleigh News & Observer articles include:

*Cheers to you! Holiday beverages are impressive to see and taste, but simple to prepare. The mulled wine is great for an informal gathering of friends. Serve with some special cheeses and holiday munchies. The hot chocolate is wonderful for a more intimate gathering of family or just an intimate gathering of two. The other six servings will be pretty good cold.

RECIPES

*Chestnut Hot Chocolate

*Mulled Wine with Apricots :biggrin:

*Hunting Turducken

This year, it will be a little easier to serve turducken in Raleigh, since the Cajun creation finally made its way into the mainstream, the frozen food section of the nearest Harris Teeter, to be specific. Butcher Cliff Collins of Cliff's Meat Market in Carrboro is also assembling fresh turduckens as customers order them. Collins, who says he has put together turduckens longer than he can remember, uses a 16-pound turkey, a 5-pound duck and a 3-pound chicken. Fresh or frozen, the price is the same, $60 for the whole, deboned, three-bird package. (Harris Teeter also sells the breast-only version for $30.)

*A wild dish from Porter's

Have a merry Christmas this week and stay warm! Enjoy the beauty of this holiday with beloved friends and family ... check back next week as the buildup to New Year's begins .... :biggrin:

Gifted Gourmet · December 31, 2004

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . . the overall theme is, of course, festive food and party preparations for the coming New Year's celebrations! :biggrin:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the winners listed for the Annual Golden Whisk Awards .. which are given to the best recipes from the AJC for the year 2004:

Here they are:

• All-American Meatloaf

• Day-Before Blueberry French Toast

• Lettuce Wraps With Moo Shu Pork

• Onion Soufflé Dip

• Twice-Grilled Stuffed Zucchini

• Espresso Martini

• World's Best, Easiest (and Prettiest) Brownies

• Dark Chocolate Ganache

• Steve's Beans

• Frozen Pistachio Cheesecake

There are archived Golden Whisk Awards from the AJC from as long ago as 1999...

Atlanta Creative Loafing has some terrific stories which are, appropriate, for the conclusion of 2004:

* Alive in '05 Bye bye Blais and Commune; hello Quinones Room and Shout

BY BILL ADDISON

the most scandalous flameout was Blais, the eccentric Buckhead brainchild of chef Richard Blais that was closed by its investors after less than six months in business. Atlantans never took to the restaurant's zany, brainy bites that included salty chicken skin topped by a tiny scoop of coleslaw sorbet, grilled shrimp speared on an eyedropper filled with liquidy shrimp head sauce, and the infamous "Cristal burger" with the foie gras milkshake. Blais and his milkshake turned up weeks later at Bazzaar next to the Fox, but that relationship also dissolved after a couple months. Word is that Blais is catering while contemplating his next restaurant gig.

* My, aren't we trendy? The fads that fashion Atlanta's dining scene

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Get lucky this New Year's Day

BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Jive talkin' Ponce's Java Jive serves up breakfast with a smile

BY FLORENCE BYRD

* A wish for shish fulfilled Sub & Shish Kabob's setting belies its astute eats

BY CYNTHIA WONG

The Charleston Post & Courier

has a number of stories worthy of your reading time:

* Health & wealth: In Britain, the arrival of a tall, dark-haired, handsome man bearing gifts as the first visitor of the New Year is considered very good luck.

* Savory or sweet waffles celebrate new year

waffles are just as easily adaptable to a New Year's Eve late supper as to a Christmas, Boxing Day or New Year's Day brunch. Remember, waffles don't have to be sweet; almost any waffle recipe can be nudged to the savory side simply by eliminating the sugar. Crisply browned waffles make great bases for all kinds of toppings, from creamed chicken to chili. If you're pondering a theme or menu for an upcoming get-together, consider a waffle bar. Unearth that waffle iron from the back of the cupboard and borrow a few more from friends. Create waffle stations for guests to make their own ...

* Oranges, chiles add zest to shrimp stir-fry

This bright-tasting stir-fry takes next to no time to prepare and cook

* Spicy chicken soup low-fat but warming comfort food

* Bed-and-breakfast owners serve elegant morning meals

Gayle Johnson is queen of the quick, elegant breakfast --

* Easy ham steaks succulent New Year's Day tradition

Call us superstitious Southerners, but we always serve pork, black-eyed peas and greens on New Year's Day.

The Charlotte Observer offers us: Cocktails to impress

Hot cool drinks Cool hot drinks
Rather than the expense of stocking a full bar and the work of crafting individual drinks all night, he recommends serving a single, theme-appropriate mixed drink at your party and having it ready when guests arrive. Here's how:
• Mix each component of the drink, without ice, well in advance.
• Refrigerate or freeze them separately in air-tight containers.
• Allow enough time for frozen ingredients to thaw.
• When guests arrive, mix ingredients in the correct proportions and serve.

this is an article with a number of excellent ideas from a NY bartender, Nick Mautone, author of the new book "Raising The Bar: Better Drinks, Better Entertaining" ... read on ... :wink:

Charlotte Creative Loafing this week:

* We Are What We Ate Charlotte's year in food ..... by tricia childress

What were the overkill food stories of 2004? Frustrated Hospitality and Business students at Johnson & Wales University have been dismayed by the amount of coverage the Charlotte Observer has dedicated to the culinary department of their university. The consequence for these students has been the need to explain to many Charlotteans that there are three colleges at Johnson & Wales University and only one is the culinary school. Food Editor Kathleen Purvis told me during last fall's Charlotte Shout that the Observer had assigned Johnson & Wales University to be covered by the food department, thus the disproportionate food coverage.

* Good For What Ails You Cures from the kitchen

by linda vespa

If your workplace is anything like the offices of Creative Loafing, there's a lot of sniffling, sneezing, and hacking (not the computer type) going on. With the colder weather and hectic holiday schedules come the inevitable colds,...

* Get lucky this New Year's Day

by kim o'donnel

Even this gal, born and raised north of the Mason-Dixon Line, knows that Hoppin' John rules ...

Memphis Commercial Appeal has a variety of seasonal articles for the New Year ...

* Attacking 2005 with some goals (best article this week! I love her ideas!!)

Mine involve eating more, not less, and include all sorts of drinking and revelry. That way, I know I'll keep those pledges. Here are a few of the ways I'm going to try and be better next year:
Eat less of more. Like a dieter faced with a lavish buffet, it's easy to overdo when you eat for a living. So I plan to graze my way through appetizer lists instead of eating supersize entrees.
Ordering those minimeals means I can afford to eat out more often.
I vow to take advantage of the opportunities to taste wine in and around Memphis, searching for the most interesting mix and the best value.

* Dinner at home? Get the corkscrew

* Finger foods Forget the plates. This New Year's Eve, let's give a big thumbs up to finger food.

* Balsamic vinegar adds rich taste

* Newly revised culinary classic still charming

Its official title is "On Food and Cooking," but it has been years since I've heard anyone refer to it that way. Everyone just calls it "McGee."

* May New Year be free of carb-free foods

The Nashville Tennessean has these pieces:

More FOOD

* Festive, not frenzied

Let this party be spontaneous. No need for invitations; just call 10-12 close friends and tell them to come over at 8 o'clock with a bottle of wine in hand and a good story to tell. What to wear? I love to get dressed up on New Year's Eve; this holiday involves champagne and kisses at midnight, so tell your guests to dress accordingly!To create the warm atmosphere of a dinner party without having to slave in the kitchen, serve an array of Mediterranean-inspired tapas, arranged on small platters along the table for grazing.

Lovely article on tapas follows! :biggrin:

* Pucker up for pudding

* Winter wunder-wurst

* Haute chocolate

* Melting pot

The Orlando Sentinel this week:Gourmet salts and more add spice to 2005

From smoked paprika to gourmet salts, cooks are demanding higher quality powders, seeds and crystals to add subtle undertones of flavor.... Chef Thomas Keller, owner of the French Laundry restaurant in Yountville, Calif. -- one of the country's finest dining spots -- has called salt the new olive oil. So it's no surprise that markets have made room for Hawaiian, gray, Celtic and smoked salts.

An excellent article from Food Editor Heather McPherson! :wink:

The Raleigh News & Observer brings readers several new items which I enjoyed reading:

* Color your omelet white -- no yolk

Some of us take no delight in egg yolks. We don't like dipping the edge of our toast in the runny spot of an egg sunny side up.

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20.

* Discover new sparklers

There were five glasses of champagne in front of each of us, each unmarked.

* My year of living deliciously

Most people do it this time of year: Look back at what we accomplished ...

When she tucked her wrappers around the filling, they were as crisply tailored as haute couture; my first ones looked like a home-ec project gone bad. Fortunately, looks don't necessarily count. Besides the dumplings, other cooks had hands in two big personal triumphs: edible biscuits and pie crust. Thanks to encouraging e-mail from a biscuit-baking reader and Shirley Corriher's Touch of Grace Biscuits recipe from her book "CookWise," I now feel like a true Southerner.

A beautiful article which made me laugh and cry simultaneously! :biggrin:

I want to take these last few hours of 2004 to wish you a Happy New Year for 2005 ... to thank you for your interest in this Southeast Forum and for your support and encouragement! Your PM's show that many of us who live in this region of the country have a wide variety of interests in our local food "scenes" ...

The growing contingent of posters from Florida :cool: recently makes me positively giddy with delight! :biggrin: There will be more coverage of the Miami and Orlando areas as the interest grows ... Please let me know where you are located for even more focused coverage of the media there ...

An excellent example is the addition to this SE Digest: article from the St. Petersburg Times

New Year's noshes The new year demands our attention.

By JANET K. KEELER

It's time to make changes in attitude and body. Before we do that though, we party. And we don't squander one moment, toasting family and friends right up until the very last moment of 2004 - sometimes beyond. Savory little appetizers hit the right note on the last night of the year. Today, we share appetizer recipes from readers known for their culinary prowess along with some of our favorites.
A toast, with garlic spread, to 2005!

Beautifully done and the photos of the recipes for appetizers beckon one to taste ...

Happy 2005! Stay tuned for more Digesting ... :laugh:

Gifted Gourmet · January 12, 2005

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has as their lead article this week 25 healthy snacks under 200 calories

While low-fat snacks are best, some fat — preferably heart-healthy monounsaturates — can help satiate you. Snacks with protein, fiber or both also boost health as well as combat hunger. The following snacks add up to 200 calories to your daily intake — but will likely save you many more by keeping you full from one meal to the next. The key to success is portion control — in your snacks and in your meals — and for that reason many of the suggestions are pre-portioned either by nature or by the packaging.

Snack recipes this week include:

Apricot-Oatmeal Bars

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

Strawberry Milkshake

Black-eyed Pea Salsa

Pumpkin Dip

Tofu Bites

Vegetable-Medley Muffins

Grown-up Party Mix

This week in Access Atlanta from the AJC is a new review of Two Urban Licks:

It's with the smaller plates that Serpas begins to have fun. Bits of salmon over house-made chips blanketed with capers and chopped red onions are delicately bathed in a husky chipotle cream. A row of pecans sandwiched with blue cheese pop into your mouth and are gone before you can say "fat content." The toasted muffaletta is the ultimate panini, with lots of ham, salami, mortadella, cheese and olives all happily smushed together to form the perfect sandwich. Jennifer Etchison's desserts manage to mimic Serpas' playfulness. A trio of tiny cupcakes with a salty-sweet, house-spun rocky road gelato rocks; the cupcakes (red velvet, chocolate and amaretto) are smeared with yummy cream cheese frosting, and the ice cream blends salty almonds with sweet cream to perfection.

Atlanta Creative Loafing has a number of articles worth checking out:

* Welcome daydream Mirage's Persian pleasures create an inviting post-holiday variance BY BILL ADDISON

The owners may tout the kebabs, but it's the stews and creamy, dunk-worthy dishes that keep me yearning for Persian food. I could happily sate myself with a feast of Mirage's appetizers, each with quixotic names that make me want to pull on a white robe and whirl like a dervish. Kashk-o-bademjan combines eggplant roasted to a smoky puree with mellow garlic, mint, a healthy drizzle of cream of whey and frizzled onions. It's downright erotic, as our two yogurt dips -- mast-o-khiar, flecked with dried herbs and cucumber, and mast-o-mousir, flavored with sultry roasted shallots.

* Hospitality, Bangladeshi-style

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* Two's company Atkins Park and Teaspace start the year off right

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Tavern on the scene Suburban charms infuse Midtown's McCray's Sixth Steet Tavern BY CYNTHIA WONG

The Asheville Citizen-Times has an delightful article on citrus fruits which are available at their local farmers' markets:

ASHEVILLE - This time of year area markets are exploding with fresh citrus fruit. You know about oranges and grapefruit, but what's a Honey Bell? Have you ever sunk your teeth into a Satsuma? ... some of the citrus fruits available at area markets.
Hamlin orange: Medium-sized orange with smooth, thin peel and few seeds. An excellent juice orange.
Orlando Tangelo: A tangerine-grapefruit hybrid, which peels easily and is very juicy.
Mineola Tangelo: Also called a "Honey Bell" Tangelo, it has more flavor then the Orlando, according to Everett. Very sweet, juicy and seedless fruit with a thin skin.
Chinese Honey Tangerine (Heirloom): Small to medium size, easy to peel with few seeds. Sweet and juicy flesh.
Sunburst Tangerine: Small fruit with dark orange, loose rind and sweet, juicy flavor.
Red Navel orange: Very sweet; easy to peel and section. Flesh is red-orange and usually seedless. Works well in fruit salads
Clementine orange: The tiniest of the mandarins, these Spanish oranges are now grown in California. Pleasant flavor, peels and segment easily
Satsuma orange: A Mandarin variety originally from Japan with loose skin and lots of flavor. Seedless and easy to peel.
Dancey tangerine: Small to medium size, flat, deep orange or red colored fruit with a smooth, but loose peel. A few seeds. Often called the "zipper skin fruit". Has a rich, sweet flavor with a spicy aroma.

The Charleston Post & Courier has an article which bears reading if these two things go together in your mind:

Wine with BBQ turns interesting

Alone, the Edmeades is an assertive wine, jam-packed with intense black fruit and also on the high end in alcohol content. For that reason, when sipped alone, it comes across as a bit on the "hot" side. But when paired with either of the mustard-based sauces, what was "hot" smoothes out some of the assertiveness, and the fruit shows through much more.
The group's favorite overall wine was the 2003 Seghesio Sonoma Valley Zinfandel. With some bright cherry flavors, but lacking just a bit of that in-your-face, high-energy fruit, it fell to second favorite with the original sauce, fourth when paired with the spicy one and third when sampled with the red sauce. Still clearly a favorite with the group, yet it still changed when paired with differently sauced barbecue.

Hadn't really given this idea much consideration .. until I read this! :wink:

The Charlotte Observer .. an article you won't want to miss in the middle of winter!

A world of chicken soup
KATHLEEN PURVIS Food Editor
You could just about dip this ol' planet in soup and roll it in feathers.
Translation: Chicken soup is everywhere.
Avgolemono -- lemon-flavored chicken soup thickened with egg -- in Greece. Hot and sour soup made from chicken broth in China. Yassa, a chicken stew, in Senegal. (And isn't stew just thick soup?)
Vietnam's chicken soup is pho ga. In that hot, jungle climate, people eat it for breakfast, about the only time of day when it's cool enough for soup.
When former restaurant critic Raymond Sokolov put together his book "The Cook's Canon: 101 Classic Recipes Everyone Should Know," three were chicken soups -- basic chicken soup, the Philippine stew chicken adobo, and Belgium's waterzooi. After researching her own book, "An Exaltation of Soups," author Pat Solley came to the conclusion that every culture has some form of chicken soup.

Charlotte Creative Loafing articles this week include:

* Main Street USA Restaurant offers American favorites

by tricia childress

Entrees are served in hefty portions. The Prime Rib, sized for a beefeater appetite, was accompanied by an equally large oozy potato with lots of melted butter, cheese, chives and bacon. One dish, which was served not only to my table, but to many tables around me, was a platter of meltingly sweet, falling-off-the-bone baby back ribs, a bit messy with the touchstone taste of a tomato-based barbecue sauce, cole slaw and hand-cut French fries. Also good was the seared tuna salad with a zingy ginger vinaigrette.

* Healthy And Palatable New Year's resolution should include Indian restaurants

by tricia childress

In January, folks are gung ho about their annual dietary resolutions. Whether it's Atkins, South Beach, No White Food, or Weight Watchers, diet regiments have a nasty way of making their presence known. "I can't eat Italian....

* If It Tastes Like An Orange . . .It's probably octyl acetate

by linda vespa

* Crunchy fantasy by kim o'donnel

It's January. It might be cold. It might be gray. There's an inauguration on the way.

* To Have and To Hold Strategies for wine storage by taylor eason

If you haven't tasted bad wine, you haven't lived to appreciate the good stuff. Like gulping spoiled milk -- especially right out of the jug -- you know turned wine when you experience it. Wine that has...

Memphis Commercial Appeal articles for the week include:

* More chitlins? No! Adventure rolls on

Just 366 days ago I had no clue when it came to pimiento cheese, collard greens or hush puppies. Before moving to Memphis I had never heard of deep-fried dill pickles or cracklin' bread or fish pudding... Although those things no longer seem wildly exotic, I remain fascinated by the rich regional culinary traditions that makes it possible to order iced tea at breakfast or eat the best barbecue in the universe almost any time of the day or night. I'm still struggling to understand the difference between soul food and home-style cooking. And I'm still on the fence when it comes to grits, unless they're stone-ground and beefed up with cheese.
But I have made up my mind about chitlins.

* Only thing missing is 'Quail to the chief'

* Fondue

The Nashville Tennessean articles include:

* Learn to be flexible

* A rye twist

Tasting whiskey can be a touchy thing. Unlike wine and beer, the high alcohol content can dull and numb your nose and tongue in short order. With spirits especially, limit your tasting to five or six at the most.
Here’s a brief list of some do’s and don’ts for conducting a tasting at your home, whether alone or with a small group of friends.
DO’S
• Do have distilled water and unsalted crackers to help cleanse the palate in between tastes. The water is also used to cut the proof of the high octane brands.
• Do use glasses that are clear so you can note the color and viscosity as it runs down the glass.
• Do try a blind tasting where guests won’t be prejudiced by brand or price.
• Do cut the proof if there’s a wide range of strength.

* 15 things you didn’t know about Vanilla

* Turn up the heat with Cajun spice blend

The Raleigh News & Observer articles this week are numerous and highly interesting:

* More veggies, the CSA way

If you're looking for a way to increase the number and variety of vegetables in your diet, one option is to buy a share in a local farm. Jan. 12, 2005

* Adding it up

How much is a serving of fruits or vegetables? Probably not as much as you think.

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20. Wines mentioned are available locally; prices are suggested retail.

* Down with tapas

The Spanish-inspired custom of making a meal blazes its way across the Triangle.

Greg's Hot List: Tapas Time
So you wanna check out the tapas trend, huh? You should be able to do an in-depth study of the subject at these restaurants -- not all of which, I should add, actually refer to their small plate offerings as "tapas." Some call them mezze and others call them, um, "small plates." Same idea.
Acme Food & Beverage Co.
110 E. Main St., Carrboro
929-2263
Bakus Tapas & Wine Bar
746 Ninth St., Durham
286-0777
Blue Martini
116 N. West St., Raleigh
899-6464
Humble Pie
317 South Harrington St., Raleigh
829-9222
The Red Room
510 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh
835-1322
Rockford
320 1/2 Glenwood Ave. (upstairs), Raleigh
821-9020
Talulla's
456 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill
933-1177
Tasca Brava
Parkway Pointe, 2422 SW Cary Parkway, Cary
319-3122
Underground
861 W. Morgan St., Raleigh
664-8704
Verde
Erwin Plaza, 2200 W. Main St., Durham
286-9755
Xios
800 W. Williams St., in Peakway Market Square, Apex
363-5288

Thus endeth the SE Digest for this week ... Next week? I am assuming that there will be some typically January type articles including preparing for the SuperBowl, not so much sports-wise as culinary-wise! :wink:

Have a marvelous food-filled week! :biggrin:

Gifted Gourmet · January 23, 2005

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has as its lead story in the Food section an interview by local writer, Drew Jubera, on SFA's John T. Edge ... covered here in eGullet in some detail in the Southern Food Culture Forum ...interview and discussion here with John T. Edge :wink:

Additionally, the AJC has a very detailed and interesting article, Dinners to showcase brew-food pairings which consists of four different local places doing these "pairings":

Late January and early February highlight that trend, with four imaginative beer dinners featuring a sumptuous array of food both created and matched with a remarkable number of beer styles from four American craft breweries.
• Aspens Signature Steaks in east Cobb County, hosting a five-course Flying Dog beer dinner ...
• Inman Park Patio teams with Slow Food Atlanta and Atlanta's Sweetwater Brewery to present a home-grown, four-course beer dinner
• Iris in East Atlanta hosts a four-course Brewery Ommegang Belgian beer dinner. The Cooperstown, N.Y., brewery is known for its distinctive Belgian brews,
• Summits Wayside Tavern in Cumming presents a beer dinner at 7 p.m. Feb. 7 that promises to be a very special occasion for beer aficionados.

access atlanta from the AJC has an extremely interesting article on an old favorite:

MARCELLA HAZAN, doyenne of Italian cooking, once said, "An Italian meal is a story told from nature, taking its rhythms, its humors, its bounty and turning them into episodes for the senses." ...maialino, the restaurant's signature dish of suckling pig, easy to spot on the turning spit. Succulent shreds of savory pork with cavolo verza (savoy cabbage) boasting the sweet-tart, vinegary flavors it often has in Italy's Veneto region....grilled polipo (octopus) over arugula with thinly sliced, marinated red onions proves it. No micro greens here, and there's nothing "baby" on the menu.
Just real, honest food. Adams' menu is rife with food Italians actually eat: semi-spicy braised veal meatballs with a near velvety texture; tender risotto with spit-roasted rabbit and meaty porcini mushrooms; wide pappardelle with duck in a sauce that smacks of rich, tomato-y Bolognese; wilted spinach laden with garlic and olive oil.

VENI VIDI VICI

41 14th St., Atlanta

Overall rating:

Food: Tutto Italiano. Va bene.

Service: Squisito!

Atlanta Creative Loafing has come up with a number of fine articles of local interest as well:

* Alon's allure A robust new carryout case adds a fresh dimension to Morningside's venerated bakery By Bill Addison

The best part about investigating the carryout selection was the opportunity it gave me to reacquaint myself with the things Alon's has been doing beautifully all along. The robust roasted lamb sandwich tinged with rosemary; the marinated and grilled chicken sandwich swabbed with pesto; the flaky croissants and crumbly, fruit-laced muffins; the creamy banana tarts with the cookielike crust. And speaking of cookies, I don't command enough hyperbolic adjectives to describe either the pecan-chocolate chip or the oatmeal-raisin masterpieces they make here. Just go get one for yourself and you'll understand.

* Still waiting for the blossom A revisit to Midtown's Cherry, plus Showtime Cafe on Memorial BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Mi Amor Mi Pilón serves jam-up Criollo specialties BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Chef's Table The Prince of Ponce BY T. LAGON

* Food Book Review Critical thinking BY BILL ADDISON

* Kitchen Witch Citrus of a different stripe BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Liquid Diet Portrait of an artist BY LAYLA BELLOWS

* La Dolce Vita Ciao Bella charms like a trip to the Old Country BY FLORENCE BYRD

* Howl at the Moon Biodynamic winemaking takes hold BY TAYLOR EASON

Charleston Post & Courier offers a number of articles of interest, one being this:Aztec contribution found in avocados

We have a lot to thank the Aztecs for in the way of food. They had a knack for recognizing the potential of wild plants as delectable edibles. Think cacao (chocolate) beans, vanilla beans, maize (corn), chiles, beans, squash and tomatoes. They cultivated those as well as the velvety smooth and rich avocado.
Avocado is really a fruit, not a vegetable. It's the highest in protein and oil content of all the fruits, which accounts for its buttery taste and texture. The modern name is derived from the Aztec word "ahuacatl," which means "testicle."

Recipes, of course follow ...

The Charlotte Observer has its usual Kathleen Purvis' article of not only interest and insight, but a touch of humor as well:

Cookbook caches reveal cook's flavor KATHLEEN PURVIS

Cookbooks are as personal as what you put in your coffee, as individual as musical taste. One person's "White Trash Cooking" is another person's "Joy of Cooking." Cookbook choice is like that. What you keep on your kitchen shelf can be a manifesto, a statement about what kind of cook you are or what kind you wish you were. Or maybe it doesn't mean anything at all. Maybe that cookbook on your shelf is just what your mother handed you as you were leaving home.
But one question came up several times: What kind of cookbooks do I recommend? Tough question. Cookbooks are personal. I can't tell you which one you need any more than I can tell you to put sugar in your coffee.

Charlotte Creative Loafing has:

* Magnum Opus A hearty salute to Salute

by tricia childress

Wine geeks have been flocking to the current hit movie Sideways. In the film, Maya (Virginia Madsen) gives a reflective assessment of wine: "I like to think about what was going on the year the grapes were growing, how the sun was shining that summer or if it rained... I think about all those people who tended and picked the grapes... Wine and first-rate restaurants share a complexity ... Salute Ristorante, a short walk from the Manor Theater where Sideways has been playing. The Arcovios have been offering Charlotteans their version of Italian cuisine for the past 10 years. Among the entrees at Salute, my favorite was the flounder, usually mundane, here delightfully sliced into pillowy sections, cooked to crispy perfection and resting on a thatch of Italian beans. The organic veal is fragrant, tender

* Frank Talk Chef-owner cites influences and experiences

by jana k. nordstrand

* Five First Dates Surefire spots to make that connection

by tricia childress

* Jawing About Gum A topic to really chew on

by linda vespa

Memphis Commercial Appeal offers several great stories worth your time to read:

* Good gumbo can be eaten any day of the year but it's got to taste even better on a cold winter night.

* Leave room for Cajun Velvet (no humble pie) at Bluff City Bayou

Bluff City Bayou makes the best gumbo this side of New Orleans.

* A&R Bar-B-Que - The latest addition to this family-run barbecue business is in a strip mall in Bartlett.

* Why fry? Give it a try and sigh The cooking method people fear most is the one they love most: frying.

* Wine and cheese tasting Fratelli's at the Memphis Botanic Garden will pour value-priced wines from Spain and South Africa

The Nashville Tennessean has a lead article by Jim Myers on Healthy Food at your Doorstep:

Here's a question: If someone were to deliver top-quality fresh produce, meats and groceries to your door each week, would that spur you to cook more and eat better? More important, do you hate grocery shopping enough that you're willing to pay for the luxury of delivery?
Eric and Katie Satz decided there were enough people who would pay for such a convenience that they launched Plumgood Foods in October. Warehoused in some reclaimed space in the old Cannery complex off Eighth Avenue South, the company delivers groceries to a growing list of clients who want organic and natural products . . . and the time to enjoy them.Seeing high-end, organic-driven stores such as Wild Oats as the primary competition, the couple is banking that enough people in the community are willing to pay both the higher prices for that quality of groceries and a service charge to have them delivered.

do read on ...

Also worth reading this week:

Napa Valley brings its taste to Nashville By THAYER WINE

The Orlando Sentinel has a very interesting article on Oriel Wines by Heather McPherson:

Wine world. In 2005, look for Oriel Wines to take homogenization to an international level. The company's global team of winemakers is bringing products from nine appellations in five countries under one label. The goal is to create a single label that takes the vino voodoo out of selecting the right wine. It's an interesting concept, but half the fun of discovering a new wine is the personal pursuit. Perhaps the sky is blue, too. I'm still trying to figure out how many tax dollars were spent to come up with the revelations: Move it and you'll likely lose it, nutrients are good for you and -- stop the presses -- calories count.

The St. Petersburg Times

has a variety of articles this week, many by their Food Editor, Janet Keeler:

Oven alchemy

You just think you don't like vegetables. Roasting releases more flavor and can convert the veggie-phobic. Honey, I Shrunk the Cabbages.
But Chris Noth has never tasted my Brussels sprouts. If he did, he would never again malign my favorite vegetable. It is not magic that transforms Brussels sprouts from yuck to yum, just a magical cooking technique: roasting. Roasting smoothes the bitter edge of Brussels sprouts. High, dry heat coaxes out sweetness, and halved sprouts implode in soft, deflated heaps. The technique can do the same for other vegetables. If you've never roasted vegetables, it is time to try. Beets, carrots, onions, peppers, parsnips, rutabagas, asparagus, green beans, even garlic, are sweetened and mellowed over time in the oven

The Raleigh News & Observer has several articles you won't definitely won't want to miss:

* Change comes in its own good time

At the start of a new year, many people at least think about change.

* On the gourmet go-round Reporter tours flagship independent gourmet grocers of the Triangle. (this has been discussed even more interestingly by members from Raleigh in our SE Forum recently!)

eGullet thread

Back in Raleigh, I did visit the new FIGS market in Cameron Village, which opened just before Christmas. FIGS (719-0328, www.cateringworks.com) is the retail extension of Catering Works caterers. While it seems to have its heart in the right place, I would not describe it as a major player just yet. The selection of beer, wine, groceries, bread, cheese and kitchen wares is slim. On the encouraging side, FIGS is in a nice, cheerful space; and the store's good-looking prepared foods and salad bar seems to encourage foot traffic.Let's hope for the best for them. Raleigh could really use some new choices in the specialty foods department.

* Ginger is good for what ails you

The spice that adds zing to many dishes makes a good home remedy, too.

* Tapas on tap

Last week in this space I speculated that the tapas trend, which has been sweeping across the Triangle for a couple of years now, appears to be stronger than ever.

* 'Heavenly Helpings' from Archer Lodge

Cookbook includes history and vintage photographs of a community and its people.

* Gino Russo's crab cakes and taters

Memory of dinner at Gino Russo's Oyster Bar stays on the mind.

:biggrin: Even though it is quite cold outside, you will find wit, warmth, and great reading beside your fireplace with the Southeast region's online newspapers!

Enjoy yourselves and learn all manner of new things here .. same time next week! :biggrin: Keep warm and do cook something delicious and delightful! :wink:

Gifted Gourmet · February 3, 2005

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . . keeping in mind that much of the focus this week is Super Bowl cuisine ... an oxymoron, of course! :laugh:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution offers readers the opportunity to mull over variations on chicken wings in anticipation of the coming Super Bowl on Sunday:

On Super Bowl Sunday, it is estimated that 54 million pounds of chicken wings (about 500 million pieces) will be consumed, about 14 million pounds more that what usually sells in a week. Fried, grilled, baked or broiled, the wing is the thing.
This Sunday, consider spreading your wings beyond the deep-fried classic.Some folks nibble around the edges, and others pick the bone clean. Some who fall in the latter category abide by the "umbrella" technique —There's also the "twirl" method... finally there's the "pull and flick"

Recipes:

Sesame Wings With Cilantro Peanut Dipping Sauce

Jamaican Jerk Chicken Wings

Curried Hot Wings With Mango Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Coca-Cola Glazed Wings

BBQ Wings With Mama's BBQ Sauce

Buffalo Chicken Wings With Blue Cheese Dressing

access atlanta from the AJC reviews the grand old steakhouse which is greatly venerated by meat lovers from all around the country who visit Atlanta .. but wait a minute! It is the service which shines here:

The waiters treat you as if you are Donald Trump. It's not as if they aren't used to very important persons — Bone's is a celebrity haunt where CNN anchors hobnob next to tables of New York stockbrokers.... Bone's' old-fashioned, personalized service is a dying breed: the doorman remembering your name; the waiter remembering that you like mint, not lemon, in your tea; the host understanding that you don't like to sit with your back to the room. The bone-in ribeye is Bone's' best cut: 22 ounces of pure, unadulterated meat, with gobs of butter and seasonings smeared all over its beautifully charred exterior. This is what God wanted steak to taste like.

and then there is Atlanta Creative Loafing which has a plethora of great articles of interest:

* Italian Stallions One take on an old debate: Alfredo's or Nino's?

BY BILL ADDISON

Atlanta, of course, lacks the rich Italian heritage of many other major U.S. cities. We've got a handful of gifted chefs who craft rapturous renditions of authentic cucina d'Italia. But we sure ain't graced with a Little Italy. What passes for our only concentration of wonderfully stereotypical, Sicilian immigrant-based, mozzarella-blanketed, pasta-packed, old-school eats in this city are two restaurants that reside within a block of one another on Cheshire Bridge Road: Nino's and Alfredo's.

* Jamaican stylee BY T. LAGON

* Pick a passable pack of peppers Peri-Peri opens, plus a return to Showtime and ATL dining news BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Touchdown! Year of the Rooster Ribs BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Elephant love BY LAYLA BELLOWS

* Lebanese delight Cedars' buffet satisfies even a finicky father BY FLORENCE BYRD

Charleston SC Post & Courier is also into Super Bowl in their featured articles this week:

Hilton-Head based Wild Wing, which has three locations in the Charleston area, 13 overall and plans for seven more by year's end. Dianne Crowley, co-owner with her husband, Cecil, says each of the restaurants sells about 12 tons of wings a month. Multiply those numbers by hundreds of wing restaurants and chicken plants nationwide, and it's clear that wings have become agigantic force in the food business. And there is no time of the year like the Super Bowl for wings. The makers of Frank's RedHot Sauce claim that 50 million chicken wings are consumed on game day. At any rate, demand and prices spike in the weeks before the game, like gas does before a holiday.

Did they say gas?? :unsure:

The Charlotte Observer has a superb article for those of you from South and North Carolina:

An end to an appetizing adventure

In Places & Plates, we attempted to see other cities in the Carolinas by their food.
Since July 2002, I've eaten my way through Charleston, Wilmington, Asheville, Raleigh, Greensboro and Durham/Chapel Hill, trying to get the flavor of each.
In a way, it's an impossible task.... Reviewers usually make two or three visits to a restaurant. I was hitting two and three at the same meal.
But what you can do is look for what stands out. Markets with ingredients you'd never expect to find in the Carolinas. Chefs who can catch your attention even when you're eating your fifth meal of the day. After all those miles, I ended up with a priceless collection of moments:

**Please note that this from Kathleen Purvis herself explains the article in greater detail:

I wanted to point out my column was accompanying an excellent story by Debbie Moose, in which we asked her to be an outsider looking at Charlotte through its food. You should be able to see the full story at www.charlotte.com. Look under Living for last Wednesday's Food section. You can also finds links to the stories I wrote for the series Places & Plates, which included Durham/Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Greensboro, Asheville, Wilmington and Charleston.

Many thanks to both you, Kathleen, and to Debbie Moose, for this article!

Charlotte Creative Loafing has a number of interesting articles as well this week:

* Cuts Like A Knife Otto Graham reveals intricacies of ownership

by tricia childress

* Cooking From A To Zebra Owner-chef spells out career trajectory

by jana k. nordstrand

* Experience the salad days by tricia childress

* An Overflowing Super Bowl Snacks score during the big game

by linda vespa

* South America: Argentina Shares the Love by taylor eason

Memphis Commercial Appeal articles include:

* Pomelo, Radish and Spinach Salad

* Quick Chinese Martin Yan understands our problem and he feels our pain.

So for our Chinese New Year he recommends a few menus: one for a 30-minute meal, another for 45 minutes, and a third for an hour. But we can keep adding dishes as our attention spans and energy allow -- remembering, of course, that this is supposed to be a celebration, not a Great-Wall style project.
Since this year is the year of the rooster on the Chinese zodiac, cooking is appropriate. Roosters are hard working and confident -- requirements for good and expansive cooks.

* Old-fashioned juicer puts squeeze on competition

* Lemongrass Chicken is star of Lean Cuisine Spa dishes

* Bierocks simplified with crescent rolls

* Relax and make veal stew together

The Nashville Tennessean has a number of fine articles this week:

• Cooking for one or two: Tiny portions or big batches?

• Bake up a batch for just two?

• Mardi party

• Food and drink gone bad: the year's worst new products

• Jazzed about seafood

• Napa Valley brings its taste to Nashville

Wine lover or not, in coming months you have unique opportunities to sip and discover wine you may never have had a chance to taste. Mark your calendar for several events leading up to a big wine auction called L'Ete du Vin on June 24. And not only do they provide excellent wines to taste and chances to rub elbows with people passionate about wine, but all events benefit the American Cancer Society. The first is the Napa Valley Vintners Tour and Wine Tasting on Feb. 3 at The Coliseum. More than 50 wineries from Napa Valley, Calif., will be represented.

The Orlando Sentinel

Heather McPherson's column this week is also Super Bowl oriented:

I'd wager there were some pretty stout predecessors to modern tailgating long before any of the aforementioned colleges raised a cheer. Think the masses refrained from roasting meat on sticks at medieval jousts? Think the Scottish clans passed on imbibing after the caber toss? Beer and barbecue -- now that's an original tailgate. Need more useless drivel for a few bar bets?
Fans are expected to eat 43.8 million pounds of avocados in the form of guacamole during the game.
It's not just for breakfast anymore. Tiffany & Co. of New York makes the Super Bowl Trophy.

The St. Petersburg Times

has a number of delightful articles on this month's big events:

* Special events and food tastings

* Love in any language ... by Janet Keeler

With Valentine's Day approaching, many of us have one thing on our minds: chocolate. Okay, it's on our minds most of the time. When it comes to chocolate, we speak the international language of love. We'll take one of each.
Scharffen Berger, USA
Baci, Italy
Toblerone, Switzerland
Elite, Israel
Jet, Colombia
Cote d'Or, Belgium
Valor, Spain
Milka, Germany
Stark and Simka, Serbia
Kras, Croatia

* Low fat Fried chicken gets a makeover

* Super Bowl parties A championship game plan

Score points at your Super Bowl party by ripping a page from the slow cooker playbook.

* Taster's choice SpongeBob snacks are fruity fun

* To market Bounty awaits those planning Feb. feasts

* Uncorked Wizards of Oz

Australian vintners make make magic down under as their inventive and creative wines

The Raleigh News & Observer is full of great articles of interest as well:

* Beefy, cheesy excess

we're talking about the food, not the football players. We know what football fans crave: thick and meaty chili, nachos dripping with cheese and chicken wings with a sauce so spicy that extra adult beverages are required to put out the fire. And because the Super Bowl is all about superlatives -- the best football team, the funniest new TV commercial, the hottest FCC controversy -- shouldn't the recipes for the food be super, too?
RECIPES
Beef Chili with Kidney Beans
Buffalo Wings
Nachos a la Butler

* Black bean soup for a wintry day

Sometimes a warming bowl of soup on a cold day is the best way to chase the chills.

* Patrick's Shrimp and Grits

Patrick's in Durham serves Southern-accented contemporary American cuisine.

* Jewish deli? That's a lox to ask

Variations on the deli theme have been popping up all over the map.

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20.

So, hope you have a great week of cooking, eating, and, yes, enjoying the pleasures of the Super Bowl ... Heaven knows, this week's SE Digest has certainly given many of you some great ideas as well as recipes! :rolleyes:

Gifted Gourmet · February 20, 2005

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has two highly interesting articles on, of all things, beans!

AJC article related to this on beans and legumes

Here's a recommendation that'll make you full of beans: Eat 3 cups a week.
You read that right. Three cups a week. More than three times as much as the average American currently puts away. Americans lag way behind the rest of the world in that regard; think of the dietary staples of beans and bitter greens of Greece and Italy, India's dal, Japan's edamame, Mexico's pinto beans and corn.Restaurants are putting more beans on the menu, too, and not just refried ones. Upscale establishments regularly include dishes such as giant Kastorian white bean stew and black-eyed pea hummus, white bean soup with truffle oil ...

Recipes include:

Cuban Black Bean Soup With Sofrito and Smoked Turkey

Tuscan-style Beans With Rosemary

Black-Eyed Pea Hummus

Chickpea and Eggplant Moussaka With Goat Cheese Topping

Red Beans and Rice With Turkey Kielbasa

Atlanta Creative Loafing offers readers a number of excellent articles, including two by Bill Addison:

* Passage to Peru The Amazon offers a refreshing South American alternative along Roswell Road's chain-riddled corridor BY BILL ADDISON

Peruvian is a largely untapped but accessible cuisine ripe for converts. It's a rich confluence of indigenous and Spanish cooking with Italian, Chinese, African and Japanese immigrant influences. You'll find American-accepted familiars like linguine with pesto and cumin-tinged roasted chicken alongside chile-sparked, saffron-scented exotica.... If you're imbibing alcohol, unwind with a pisco sour, the national drink of Peru. Pisco is a white grape brandy akin to a mild tequila. It arrives tart-sweet with lime and frothy from egg whites... My favorite in the selection is aji de gallina, an Italian-influenced creamed chicken dish with the lovely warmth of aji amarillos and a healthy dose of Parmesan.

Within the constraints of only being able to quote a brief amount of Addison's text, I encourage you to read more of this article ...

* Vietnam Vet A first visit to RiceSticks, plus a return trip to Nam

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Slices in the 'hood Liro's dishes out the pie and delivers, too

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Mouthful Vegetarian Indian

* Chef's Table

It pays to be green

* I dream of genie soup

BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Food Book Review True Grits

BY BILL ADDISON

more on the book and Bill Neal here

* Choose your new weapon Alternatives to Chardonnay and Cabernet

BY TAYLOR EASON

* Fertile Crescent Who knew? There's more to Vickery's than fabulous cocktails

BY FLORENCE BYRD

* Sake it to me, baby BY TONY WARE

The Charleston Post & Courier has two separate articles which complement each other, namely one on scones and clotted cream and the other, tea.

"Here (at Charleston Tea Company), it's an American way, it's the new Starbucks. It's a Starbucks with tea. I don't want tea to be intimidating or (exclusively) feminine anymore. That's not tea. Tea is very cool. It's healthful and everybody should enjoy it and benefit from it."
Nellius joins an expanding legion of tea-oriented businesses in Greater Charleston, including This Whole House in Summerville; increased tea choices on retail shelves (particularly a greatly expanded bulk tea selection at Earth Fare in West Ashley); and the opening of a Teavana store (the first one opened in Atlanta in 1997) on King Street sometime in the coming months.

Quite an interesting article for Charleston residents as well as anyone interested in the new wave of teas sweeping the country ...

The Charlotte Observer has an article I have enjoyed immensely:

Perfect couples: Chemistry? Biology? What is it that makes some foods go together so impeccably?

Chocolate and raspberry. Beef and blue cheese. Pork and apples.
They're all on that list of magical food combinations. Chefs reach for them again and again. What makes these pairings so special?
Some have an affinity for each other. Peach tastes peachier with a hint of almond, maybe because peach pits have a natural almond flavor.
There's a kitchen saying, "What grows together goes together." Things that come into season at the same time, or things that grow in the same kinds of places, tend to work well together. Like tomato and basil, or chile peppers and cilantro.
Sometimes, the trick is that opposites attract

Kathleen Purvis cites a number of chefs who have written cookbooks on this issue .. among them Gray Kunz whose book I have just purchased ... a good read ...

Charlotte Creative Loafing articles this week include:

* Gastronomy In Cyberspace Blogs unite the global food community

by ethan gilsdorf

* Pick a Peck of Food Blogs by ethan gilsdorf

* Blogs With Local Connections by tricia childress which includes this tiny mention of eG:

An organization that requires membership in order to post (though anyone can read the posts) is The eGullet Society for Culinary Arts and Letters: forums.egullet.org. A search for "Charlotte" yields hundreds of postings.

* The Boss Lunch: Spots for business wheelers and dealers

by tricia childress

* I Dream of Genie Soup by kim o'donnel

* It's That Time Again Girl Scout Cookies are back in season

by linda vespa

* Alternatives to chardonnay and cabernet by taylor eason

Memphis Commercial Appeal has an article this week which I personally enjoyed because I have never considered making a savoury creme brulee:

Creme brulee satisfies as main dish

Everyone I know loves creme brulee. The one I read about used a Muenster cheese from Alsace. This is a very full-flavored, and shall we say, aromatic cheese. A washed rind cheese, it is just too strong for many people's taste. I needed a soft cheese with enough flavor to make it interesting, so I chose a camembert from the Mouco Cheese company in Colorado. My second choice would have been a well-ripened Brie-type cheese.... any chicken sausage available in the freezer section of most specialty food stores would be excellent, especially the ones with basil or sun-dried tomato. Kielbasa or another smoked sausage from the grocery also would be tasty. I caramelized onions and finished them with a bit of honey and balsamic vinegar for the topping.
The restaurant served this in small ramekins as a first course....

never actually gave this much thought .. until now ... :wink:

The Nashville Tennessean has a number of articles in the food section:

* C'mon, give healthy eating a try

* Meatless, not heatless

* Mad about saffron

Saffron is considered exotic because it is unique and irreplaceable in recipes that call for its flavor. People find it difficult to define its taste, because it doesn't taste like anything else in this world. But once you taste saffron, it lingers on your tongue and in your mind.... if you want a dish that lovingly showcases saffron's culinary prominence, look to Italy for a decadently creamy plate of risotto Milanese (see recipe). The saffron lends a warm aroma of honey-toasted tobacco, at once delicately bitter and sweet. With a salad, bread and wine, the risotto Milanese can be a main course unto itself.

The St Petersburg Times articles this week are worthy of your attention, and this by Janet Keeler, Times Food Editor:

* Hot, hot, hot

The word is used repeatedly by fans of celebrity chef Tyler Florence - and they aren't just describing the food .... Florence answers questions and gives advice while cooking:

* "There are four tastes - spicy, sour, salty, sweet. Every time I make a dish, I try to hit all four."
* The episodes of Food 911 with dark cabinets in the background were filmed at his New York apartment. The others are shot at people's homes.
* He'll eat anything but draws the line at the Chinese 100-year-old egg. He had a bad experience with one of those, something about a black yolk.
* For his own enjoyment, he makes a spaghetti with marinara and fresh basil from the garden that will "make you cry."
* His restaurant will look like a farmhouse. Half will be a dining area and the other half a market where artisanal products will be featured.
* The 320th episode of Food 911 was just shot. The network gets 350 requests a day from people who want Florence to come to their house to teach them to cook a troublesome dish.

The Raleigh News & Observer has some wonderful reading in its articles this week:

* Gloved hands not always cleaner

There's something reassuring about watching restaurant workers handle our food with gleaming gloves, but the appearance of extra cleanliness may be no more than that -- appearance.

* A truly delicious cobbler

I know that it sounds downright unpatriotic with Presidents Day on Monday, but cherry pies just don't thrill me.

* Tea might do you some good

It may come as no surprise to Southerners: After water, the most popular beverage in the world is tea.

* This show really cooks

The confessional monologue, delivered in the form of a cooking class, makes its Triangle debut this weekend.

* Artful desserts from the museum restaurant

Baby Bundt Chocolate Banana Pound Cake, which was served with praline ice cream.

* Two new eateries bloomin'

The first half of February saw the opening of two promising restaurants, both the first ventures of chefs with impressive credentials.

Lopuszynski (Wild Orchid Grill) describes his inaugural menu -- which features entrees like grilled colossal sea scallops with ancho chile risotto, and grilled flat iron steak with veal jus and crispy onion straws -- as "starting off simple" and promises more ambitious fare to come.
Meanwhile in Chapel Hill, Dimitri Roussos has opened Table 55 ... After leaving Chapel Hill as a young man to see the culinary world, Roussos has returned home with a resume that stretches from Boston to New Orleans.

* The Wine List

Each week, a Triangle wine shop recommends wines in three price ranges: under $10, $10 to $20 and more than $20.

* Here's to Slovenia and beyond

Thirty years ago, the world was full of people who thought that only France and Germany could produce wines worth drinking.

* One-dish meals make dinner easy

In these days of busy households and hectic work schedules, it isn't surprising that cooks are spending less time preparing food than they once did.

Have a great week whether you are cooking at home or dining out ... I am going to spend a large part of this week visiting and writing about the food in both Asheville and Hendersonville, North Carolina. Back next week with all new SE Digests! :biggrin:

Gifted Gourmet · March 15, 2005

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeast Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city . . .

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution features two articles of great interest:

Basically Braising by Kathleen Purvis, whom we know as the Food Editor of the Charlotte Observer:

When you strip away the mystique and accouterments, cooking methods really fall into two camps: dry heat and wet heat.
Braising is wet heat. That's it. When you use a slow cooker, you're braising. If you've made a campfire stew, you've braised. If your mother made pot roast on Sunday, she was braising. But oh, the places braising can go. It goes to France, for coq au vin and boeuf bourguignon. It goes to China, for braised fish and spare ribs. It goes to Morocco, for braised chicken with lemons and olives. It goes to Italy, for osso buco.

Recipes this week include

Chile-Flavored Braised Halibut

Slow Cooker Pot Roast With Vegetables

World's Best Braised Green Cabbage

Moroccan Chicken With Green Olives and Preserved Lemons

The other article is on the former Food Critic of the Journal-Constitution, John Kessler and explains more fully why he is assuming even more roles in food writing:

In the pantheon of enviable careers, restaurant critic ranks up there with film actor, banana republic dictator and Springsteen roadie.For starters, I'd like to write about restaurants in a way that extends beyond the basic thumbs up/thumbs down modality. Atlanta has a rich restaurant culture, full of stories I'd like to tell.
And I love cooking.... also hope to write more about the great and varied food markets around Atlanta.
Finally, I hope to broach the subject of wine and spirits in a way that skirts between the rock of pedanticism and the hard place of silly cocktails

Atlanta Creative Loafing has a number of excellent articles on local food this week:

* Sweet submission Haven't been to Midtown's Spice lately? In the hands of venerable chef Paul Albrecht, it's worth revisiting BY BILL ADDISON

Albrecht is at his best with seafood. That means you'll want to hone in on starters like the lumpy crab cakes with a tidy tuft of wilted spinach and lime vinaigrette, or the mussels steamed in a lush lemongrass-coconut broth. A splurge on the $18 batter-fried lobster tail appetizer renders an epiphany.... At Spice, it clicks: Under a sheer cloak of tempura-thin batter, the lobster meat is delicate, and a jicama-Asian pear slaw on the side draws out the crustacean's buttery nature.
Albrecht's primary strength may be his uncommon sense of composition.. He pairs grouper with roasted red pepper grits, fried oysters and broccolini.

* You Have Some Gall Seeking succor at Grady's, plus feedback on Sundown's sea change

BY CLIFF BOSTOCK

* Not Too Caliente Salsa Havana's food and service miss the beat

BY CYNTHIA WONG

* Light Bright

BY SUZANNE WRIGHT

* Comfort of Curry

BY KIM O'DONNEL

* Food Book Review British Soul Food

BY BILL ADDISON

The Charlotte Observer has several items which you may enjoy:

One of which is Brown, yellow or white: Sugar's all sweet by KATHLEEN PURVIS and be sure to check this out with Kathleen discussing cooking with different sugars:

audio on cooking with sugars

Here, we have sugar cane and corn, for cane sugar and corn syrup. Other countries have different sources, like coconut palms or grains, and they use them to make sugar, too. Or they use sugar cane, but they process it differently. The result: different flavors. There are other sugars in America, of course. Even in mainstream supermarkets, you can find unprocessed sugars, such as Sugar in the Raw. Other people prefer products made in countries that still sweeten with cane sugar instead of corn syrup, because the taste is purer.

Recipes include:

MALTOSE GLAZED CHICKEN WINGS

ROLLED SUGAR COOKIES

CREME BRULEE

BASIC PECAN PIE

Yet another of Kathleen's articles is also here this week:Manhattan in March suits me fine

Charlotte Creative Loafing offers readers an array of good reading:

* A View To A Thrill Food and ambience are the tops at sky-high restaurant

* Deli Delight Eatery offers authentic choices, large portions

by jana k. nordstrand

* The Irish In Us Pubs for St. Paddy's Day

by Tricia Childress who reviews the local St. Patrick's Day options:

At RiRa, you won't find any wussy green beer. I'm not sure you could dye Guinness anyway. On the menu at this charming Irish two-story pub (the interior was actually shipped to Charlotte from Ireland) are Beef and Guinness pie, bangers (imported Irish sausages) and mash, fish and chips, and corned beef and cabbage. At the Lake, the Galway Hooker Irish Pub has a week of celebration planned with a parade, music, dancing and, of course, lots of beer.Sir Edmond Halley's will have local Irish youth dancers, a bagpiper, and some of their regular crowd (also an Irish singing group) performing Irish tunes, so patrons can weep into their beers or lift the beers higher.Third Ward's Hartigan's Irish Pub will serve corned beef and cabbage, shepherd's pie (beef), beef stew, green beer and Shamrock shooters

* Comfort of Curry

by kim o'donnel

* Feed Me The Money: Food as a major investment

by linda vespa

* Drive Yourself To Drink Southeast food & wine fests that are worth the trip

compiled by taylor eason

Memphis Commercial Appeal articles this week include:

* Mushrooms stuffed with cottage cheese, spinach, garlic and bacon

* Seared scallops star as signature dish at Blue Fish

* Caminos de Michoacan review

* Rising through the ranks

* Thistle has a big heart beneath thorns, 'choke'

* Pastry, meatless corn dog will fool those fickle kids

The Nashville Tennessean has as their main article Hippity-hoppity, Easter's on its way by columnist Thayer Wine:

You can go for the glory and make that special dessert yourself, or, if you're not that daring, you can always find something at one of the many bakeries that prepares goodies for the Easter season. If the busy bunny typically deposits chocolate rabbits on your doorstep, you might consider staying away from a chocolate-based dessert. Consider a lemon tart with a walnut crust. Make it the day before, so you don't have to cook it after you get home from church.
If you're planning to serve a brunch, you might consider offering homemade hot cross buns that are traditionally served on Good Friday (March 25 this year) as well as through the days leading up to Easter.

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