Tag: events

Brisket King of NYC Cook-Off Tomorrow Night at Santos House

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As a follow-up event to last fall’s Meat Week NYC, Jimmy Carbone of Jimmy’s No. 43 will be hosting NYC’s second annual Brisket Cook-Off tomorrow night at Santos Party House in Little Italy/Upper Chinatown.

Formerly named A Brisket A Brasket, this year’s event will feature over 10 chefs vying to be crowned the Brisket King of NYC.

High Point Farms (whose wonderful meat is all over this blog) will be paired up with Chef Jessica Wilson from Jimmy’s 43! I’ll be there taking pictures and cheering on High Point’s meat — which has been training super hard in a vat of marinade for the past few days.

So, ahem, be prepared to be there when the event gets renamed The Brisket QUEEN of NYC!

Tickets are still available for the event. For $55 you get to sample all the competitors’ briskets, in addition to UNLIMITED BOOZE in the form of Pickle Backs (shot of booze + shot of pickle juice) and Bull Shots (shot of booze + shot of BRISKET JUICE).

For tickets, click here.

See you all at Santos!

* Update: Unfortunately, we didn’t win. We ran out of brisket in about an hour! Ticket-holders who got there right at the start of the event came back for seconds and thirds. They gobbled everything up before everyone had the chance to vote, all 500 PORTIONS!

Which means we are AWESOME! Kudos to Chef Jessica for pairing brisket with a punchy roasted grape chimichurri. It was a great counterpoint to the rich, beer-brased beef, and brought freshness and a bright acidity to the palate!

For the a list of the winners, click here.

Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Chip Rice Krispies Treats

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Last weekend I went to a Super Bowl party where my friend Dave was in charge of the kitchen. He had put together a menu featuring these great burgers: loosely packed patties covered with carmelized onions and loads of béarnaise sauce. Isn’t that a great idea? As we were chatting in the kitchen, Dave mentioned that this vision of béarnaise + burgers had been incubating in his mind for years before he set out to make it a reality.

Sometimes that happens. Sometimes you hold onto a sprout of an idea for a long time, waiting for the right time to make it happen. Other times, inspiration strikes in speedier ways.

When snack stadiums were popping up all over the Internet, I remember seeing a particularly unholy one in which the stadium was constructed of alternating ham hoagies and Rice Krispies treats. It was kind of disgusting, but it definitely made me think about bringing marshmallowy treats to the Super Bowl party (one should never come empty handed).

I have been nursing a jones for peanut butter for a couple weeks now, as well as a chocolate craving. So, I thought, why not a peanut buttery, chocolatey Rice Krispies treat? Like one of those Reese’s Crispy Crunchy Bars, but with much better chocolate and peanut butter.

I love the combo of salt, fat, and sugar, and you will too if you don’t already. This is going to taste like childhood, so don’t knock the milk chocolate. I used a good one, and so should you.

As you can see, the chocolate was so good that I went a little over-bonks on the drizzle.

Ingredients:

6 cups of plain Rice Krispies

1 1/2 cups of salted whole peanuts

1 1/2 cups of milk chocolate chips + 1 cup (2 1/2 cups of chocolate chips total)

4 tablespoons of unsalted butter

1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter

4 cups of mini marshmallows (about 10 ounces)

How to prepare:

1. Lightly butter a large dish.

2. Combine the Rice Krispies, the peanuts, and 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl.

3. Melt together the butter, the peanut butter, and the marshmallows over medium-low heat in a medium-sized saucepan. When the mixture is creamy, pour it into the dry ingredients. Using a large wooden spoon, quickly stir everything together until the dry ingredients are evenly coated with the marshmallow mixture.

4. Tip everything into the buttered dish. Using your hands (moisten them a little with water so that they don’t stick), gently press the mixture into the dish, making an even layer.

5. In a small saucepan over very low heat, melt the remaining cup of chocolate chips. Be sure to stir them constantly so that the chocolate doesn’t separate or burn. When it has melted, remove it from the heat. Using a spatula, scoop a little bit of chocolate out of the pot and flick it quickly across the Rice Krispies treats. Continue to do this until the entire surface is evenly drizzled.

6. Let everything cool. When the chocolate has hardened, use a sharp knife to cut squares of Rice Krispies treats.

Trending: Super Bowl Snack Stadiums

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I did not make this Snack Stadium. I didn’t take the picture either, but gosh darn it, I sure do wish I had!

It doesn’t even need to be said, but the Super Bowl is tomorrow. Ever since the Giants beat the 49ers, I started to see two food items pop up with greater and greater frequency.

The first is obvious: wings.

The second? SNACK STADIUMS.

Yes, entire miniature football stadiums made out of Super Bowl party food!

Did you know that Americans will eat one billion dollars’ worth of snack food tomorrow?

I wonder how much of that will go into making snack stadiums . . .

For more images of snack stadiums, click here.

And Serious Eats does a nice how-to slideshow here if you are ambitious enough to try to construct your own.

AND if you are feeling particularly evil (and kind of suicidal), Jimmy Kimmel has challenged fans to unplug the TV at a crucial moment during the game, film what happens, and upload it to Youtube with the title, “Hey Jimmy Kimmel, I unplugged the TV During the Game.”

I personally do not recommend that you do it.

Happy New Year!

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Ever wonder what the Times Square Ball looks like up close? This year, the famous sphere gets a stylish update with brand new Waterford Crystal Sparklers.

Because, you know, Swavroski is so 2011.

Happy New Year!

Goodbye 2011

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Before we ring in the new, we should say a goodbye to the old!

Goodbye to:

Gourmet Burger Overload

Don’t get me wrong, I love me a good burger. I love hamburgers. But everyone these days has a fancy burger on the menu. On every corner is a new gourmet burger joint. And the all the meat is a specially ground just for that restaurant from Pat LaFrieda, which begs the question: if everyone has a proprietary blend from the same butcher, how special are the proprietary blends?! And they all tower to the point that only Paul Bunyan could comfortably take a bite out of one without it exploding local pickles and artisanal slaw.

Too much, too much, too much.

Burgers reached maximum saturation point yesterday. It has just gotten ridiculous.

But . . . yeah, I’ll still order them. Because they’re delicious.

Planking

Whoever came up with the idea of playing dead, and posting the clips or pics on the internet as a fun thing for adults to do is just idiotic. I look forward to saying goodbye to this bizarro trend in 2012.

Tebowing

Oh, Tim Tebow. I know next to nothing about football. But I do know that you strike a pose out of love at the end of each game. I’m not a hater, but you spawned a fad that I wish would go away.

Pork Belly

Yes, I know. I love pork belly too. I really love pork belly. I would marry pork belly if I could, but pork belly is also everywhere all the time.

And quite frankly, I think it is about time some other cut got some tender loving attention too.

Molecular Gastronomy

I said “goodbye” to this last year too, but it still lingers on and on. Foam is fun, but sometimes I just want food that looks like food, you know what I mean? I don’t want to sniff a whiff of flavored air from a globe made out of candied sugar before and after each bite of gelatin.

This year, I want food that I recognize. I want food that I know how to eat without needing an explanation. If I have to ask how, I don’t want to eat it in 2012.

Sous vide

An overused excuse for not cooking with real heat. Seriously, a monkey can stick a bag of vacuum-sealed chicken breast in an expensive hot water bath. The only difficult thing about sous vide is purchasing or building a sous vide water oven.

I think people who smoke a lot of pot must really like cooking sous vide, since building a bong is suspiciously similar to jerry-rigging a cooler. I’m just saying.

Potted Food / Food in Jars

Along with “boards,” this is the one restaurant snack trend that I think has had its day. I like rillettes as much as the next person (in fact, I adore rillettes), but what was once a deliciously thrifty way to use and store away every last bit of valuable animal has now become silly as prime cuts get ground up, or shredded and topped with Sauternes gelée.

One to Two-Hour Waits for Tables

I’m sorry, I’m too old for this. Bring back reservations!

Menus on iPads

Am I the only one who gets overwhelmed looking at restaurant menus? I think that I love set menus because I would rather sit back and let the kitchen bring me something to enjoy, rather than shove the onus of picking well or poorly onto my uneducated shoulders.

I cannot think of anything more distracting, more confusing, and more annoying that putting a menu on an iPad and making me figure out how to navigate my way around it.

And if I picture my mother trying to do it, I can only think of one thing: #restaurantfail.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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This year, my parents could not be dissuaded from a 22-pound turkey. A 22-pound turkey! I don’t really know how to cook a bird that big. When I give it more thought, it’s kind of frightening to cook something that is almost a quarter of my body-weight. Seems wrong somehow.

Holidays with family are often exercises in compromise. Sometimes the path of least resistance is also the least stressful path as well!

So as I take a quick break from cooking, this will be just a quick post to wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving from the Midwest.

All Thumbs

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Ingredients:

1 accident-prone girl

1  souvenir folding knife from Sardinia

1 stubborn recyclable cardboard box

1 very nice and very worried taxi driver

1 Friday night ER visit

1 attending physician

1 hand-trauma surgeon

Gauze

What happened?

1. Following a most excellent Jens Lekman show in Williamsburg, and a frustrating trip home due to cancelled L-train service, I decided to take advantage of my insomnia and clean the apartment.

2. While cutting up boxes for recycling with a souvenir knife from Sardinia, my hand slipped and the blade folded right through my thumbnail, slicing through the nail-bed and the tip of my finger. My last thought before this happened: “I really shouldn’t be using a folding knife to do this . . .” Famous last words!

3. After realizing that this was bad, I wrapped my finger in paper towels and sprinted out of the apartment with my hand held above my heart, and my other hand applying constant pressure.

4. Four and half hours later, I am discharged from the hospital with a special dressing that cannot get wet for a week and a half.

Not the best trip to the ER (not that there ever really is a “good” trip to the ER), but there were certainly things said and observed that make you really wonder when politicians say that we have the best health care system in the world:

Like . . .

• When the only person who notices that you might be tired elevating your dripping digit is the hospital security guard (who kindly brought me something to rest my elbow on).
• When the attending physician tells you that they had to call in a hand trauma surgeon to remove the thumbnail and give me stitches because no one in the ER “had done that before.”
• When they send you to get X-rays, and right when you enter Radiology, you see the radiologist head into the bathroom with a stack of magazines.
• When the trauma surgeon asks you if you want to keep your fingernail (why no, you think sarcastically, I always thought that nail was superfluous!).
• When you respond that, if possible, yes, you would like to keep your nail, they just put a special dressing on it (ie. glue) and send you home.

What I have found difficult to do with my non-dominant hand:

• Brushing my teeth.
• Eating.
• Buttons and zippers.

What I have found extremely difficult to do without my right thumb:

• Flossing.
• Dishes. I did them last night with a silicone oven-mitt over my injured hand.
• Cooking. Well-nigh impossible.
• Laundry. Took a long time, but I did it.
• Putting on skinny jeans. I have almost exhausted my collection of muumuus.

For the next week or two, I think that there will be a lot of posts on kitchen equipment.

And a very special thank you to Laura for doing my dishes, breaking down that evil box, and bringing me a large tray of ziti in a disposable pan! You are a lifesaver!

To Steve

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Dear Steve,

I never thought that I would feel so sad at the loss of someone whom I never met. However, I realized this morning that I had met you; I interact with you intimately every single day. I know you through your design, your ideas, your creations, and your uncompromising taste. Your products have been with me for every important moment of my life.

You have helped me get through school, write my dissertation, and process my vacation pictures. You have enabled me to express my creativity and share it with others. Because of you, I have stayed in contact with my friends, and have made new ones. You have exposed me to more news and culture than I ever would have been able to discover on my own. I have listened to the soundtrack of my life on your music players. Your products are often the first thing I see when I wake up, and the last thing I turn off before I go to bed.

My parents love to tell the story of their first personal computer. I was about 7 or 8, and it was a PC. They tell me that after playing with it for an hour, I turned to my dad and said, “There has to be something else.”

I have never had anything other than an Apple computer ever since.

Thank you.