Julia Child’s birthday is right around the corner, as is the much-anticipated (at least to us food lovers) new film Julie & Julia. To take part in celebrating Julia’s life and her contributions to the culinary world, we thought it apropos to have a “Week of Julia” here on the Foodista blog. We’ll highlight some of our favorite Julia dishes, as well as some we think are just simply great dishes to cook at home – even if you don’t have a lot of time.

Oh, Julia taught us so much (and continues to do so through her books)! She began by showing us how to master the art of French cooking at home, which became the title of her first book aptly named Mastering The Art of French Cooking. She taught us that the more we know about food, the less mysterious it is, and the easier cooking becomes. As we all became more health conscious and more interested in knowing where our food comes from she continued to teach us the principles of good cooking. If you knew nothing about cooking, she’d teach you the basics to get you on your way; if you were a seasoned cook, she always had new ideas and ways of approaching a recipe. She taught us how to build on our culinary experiences, how to plan an excellent meal in half an hour, how eat in moderation (yes, a chef told us that!), and how to not fear food (try those escargot!)

So here’s to Julia, and here’s to a lovely week of wonderfully French recipes!

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Categories:	Chefs • French	6 Comments
Tags:	Chef • French • julia child • Julie & Julia

(Editor’s note: We’re thrilled to welcome New York-based food lover, Seth Knight, as a contributing editor to Foodista.)

If you have ever watched the Food Network, added herbs to a whole chicken, used olive oil, or hell, eaten out in the last 50 years, you must take a moment to give thanks to James Beard, the father and patron saint of American cooking. Beard understood the American palate preferred something familiar but also yearned for new and exciting all at the same time. Recently, I attended a symposium in New York City hosted by The New School celebrating the life of this food industry giant (literally, he was 6’4), and I found myself longing be a part of the club; whose members were taught by and touch by “Jim.”

James Beard was born in 1903 in Portland, Oregon and was raised by his mother who ran a boardinghouse.  Beard was a sickly young child and it was then that he was able to experience the joy of food though his mother and their Chinese cook. He was often fed chicken jelly, a mixture of chicken broth, with the whites of an egg and its shell mixed, chilled and strained into gelatinous globs. James would later reminisce that “The Chinese have the perfect palate.” Beard indeed remembered every meal he ate with extreme detail and clarity, which spurred his ability to create in the kitchen. After failed attempts to become an Opera singer and Broadway actor, James opened a catering business Hors D’Oeuvre Inc in 1937. It was then he also wrote his first book Hors D’Oeuvres and Canapés. His book went against America’s growing addiction to “fast, easy and cheap.” Science had replaced fresh picked berries with JELL-O and homemade bread took a backseat to Bisquick.

Beard’s books were the first to cross from a list of ambiguous instructions to a narrative. Betty Fussell, author of The Story of Corn recalled, “He was the middle man. Jim bridged my eighth grade home economics class and the select gourmets of the world. His books were “straight-talk” and were written the way Americans spoke.  And they were personal, as if to say, If I could do it, so can you…And now we’ll do it together.” She continued, “He was also from the west, a cowboy…so he cooked with that adventurous spirit.”

According to Cinema Studies Professor Dana Polan, James Beard also sought to extend the pleasure of cooking beyond the housewife. As the host of the first stand-alone cooking show “I Love to Eat,” his primetime segment would encourage “man duties” such as stuffing a raw chicken or grilling. He even suggested that men be in charge for garnishing dishes, for they are the best decorators (we’ll get to that later).

James Beard was a born teacher and loved having people around.  Judith Jones, who worked with everyone from Langston Hughes to Julia Child remembered, “Jim loved to get together with aspiring cooks and get close and instruct them. He would run to the telephone and field calls from women in Iowa, and instruct them on how to calibrate their ovens. And if anyone ever questioned the direction he was talking the recipe, he’d say, “We’re Americans, we can do as we please.”

The always outspoken food writer extraordinaire Barbra Kafka, summed-up James Beard the best, saying, “Jim was gay! A lot of people fail to mention that. He was uncompromisingly gay, as was everything he did. His books were uncompromising, his life was honest, and his cooking was real.”

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Categories:	Author • Chefs • Events	4 Comments
Tags:	american cooking • Author • Canapés • celebrity chef • Chef • cooking • Events • Hors D’Oeuvres • james beard • New York • The New School

Last Saturday we had the pleasure of being invited to join Chef’s Tom Douglas and Thierry Rautureau on their weekly cooking radio show In the Kitchen. For those not familiar with this duo, they are a couple of very accomplished chef/restaurateurs/authors (Tom’s also an Iron Chef Winner) who love food so much, they spend every Saturday evening in a radio studio talking about it. We had a fun and wide ranging conversation about everything from boneless turkey to recipe intellectual property law (more on that to come).

Click here to download the show.

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Categories:	Chefs • Interview	3 Comments
Tags:	Chef • Iron Chef • Radio

You know you have a good book in your hand when time simply evaporates – poof! two hours gone just like that. This is what happened when I boarded my flight from San Francisco to Seattle and cracked the spine of Alice Waters and Chez Panisse. If you’re interested in food, and I’m assuming you are since you’re reading a food blog, then this gem will keep you spellbound and salivating in no time flat. It’s the perfect balance of cuisine, biography and history.

If you are unfamiliar with Alice Waters and her famous restaurant Chez Panisse please allow me the honor of an introduction. Alice Waters was a young woman with a passion for food, an unwavering vision, determination and virtually no restaurant experience when she opened the doors to her Berkeley, California restaurant in the early 70’s. What set her apart from other restaurateurs during that early era was her obsessive devotion to quality local and organic ingredients; something she experienced during her months as a student in France, but relatively unheard of stateside. This revolutionary approach to artisanal cooking resulted in the birth of California Cuisine.

I won’t give any more away, you should indulge in it yourself. But I tell you this, if you are a food lover you will gobble this book up.

Enjoy the feast

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Categories:	Cookbooks • French • Restaurants	Leave a Comment
Tags:	alice waters • books • california cuisine • Chef • chez panisse • cooking • Food • foodista • France

Welcome to the first Foodista interview! In the future we plan to interview all kinds of people in the food world and share their experiences, ideas, and insights.

Today we are starting with Elizabeth Warner of Elizabethan Fare in Putney, Vermont. Elizabeth and I have been good friends since high school. After traveling the world, Elizabeth returned to Vermont, where she founded and runs her own catering company with her husband David.

Here’s a bit of our recent conversation…

What are the Elizabethan Fare signature dishes? Can you share a recipe with our readers?

Grilled lemon and rosemary Chicken, Citrus Glazed Salmon with a mango fruit salsa and Maple infused pulled pork..great for rehearsal BBQs!

Citrus Glazed Salmon
Makes 8 servings
4 pounds salmon fillets (pin bones removed) Skin on or off
Citrus Glaze
1.5 cups orange juice
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1/2 cup Grand Marnier / or orange liquor
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Combine ingredients in heavy duty saucepan and reduce until the thickness is that of honey. Let cool. Prepare salmon fillets on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Salt and pepper the fillets. Generously brush glaze onto fish. Bake until medium rare approximately 7-10 minutes depending on your oven. This can also be grilled. Brush on the glaze as you grill.

What are your culinary inspirations? Where do you get recipes?

Our backyard, so to speak. Southern Vermont is like a little Provence we have world class boutique cheeses, Grass fed organic beef, incredible varieties of local, organic fruit and vegetables as well as small batch ice creams made with hormone, antibiotic free milk. We cook using the freshest, most local organic products available. We bring in fish from the Boston Market and work directly with the fish market. Many of my recipes are mine from start to finish. I have an understanding of what works together and what doesn’t, as I have been cooking for 20+ years. Some of my recipes are a combination of many recipes I have found on the Web and then adjusted to be my own.

What advice do you have for the home party-planner to make their events successful?

Plan ahead, prepare as many things as possible ahead. Don’t be afraid to hire someone to help with the dishes, refreshing the platters etc. It is truly worth the expense, and you may actually enjoy your own party!

What’s unique about catering in Vermont?

75% of our clients are from out of State, some of our clients have been from as far away as Holland and Denmark. I have had clients whom I have spoken to a hundred times and finally met on the day of their wedding.
Also you can have a destination wedding for a good price even today. We also have the weather.

What’s the wildest party/event you’ve catered?

My own wedding. I had 234 guests at my wedding. We were married New Years Weekend at The Putney School. There was a candlelit ceremony just after sunset with a three piece classical trio playing Pachabel Canon as I walked down the aisle. I got married in burgundy and gold (no one had seen my dress, or knew before hand what I was wearing). The entire crowd of standing room only guests let out a gasp when I walked in, flanked by my divorced parents and preceded by my Labradors. We were quite a site. We had three acts to our wedding play, as I termed it. The classical, elegant ceremony followed by the sumptuous cocktail hour with over twelve appetizers and a jazz pianist playing. We brought in a 9 piece Merengue band from Boston for the dinner dancing and a DJ for late night dancing. I worked endlessly planning, preparing and organizing our wedding, I never ate. As a result, I slept for most of our honeymoon.

Can you share a story of catering disaster?

I am a detail person, I always plan for rain, cold heat etc. Two years ago we were catering a wedding in Walpole, NH when the rains kept coming . We made it through the wedding, moved furniture inside and set up a makeshift ceremony site (The ceremony was scheduled to be outside in an apple orchard overlooking a gorgeous array of fall colors). The next morning however was a disaster! My staff and I arrived to set up brunch when my phone started ringing. The sister of the bride called to tell me that the guests were trapped at their hotel in Keene, NH. The roads were flooded, their cars were underwater and grandparents were being airlifted by helicopter off of the roof of the hotel! Next the mother of the bride called and demanded a refund for the brunch, which was staffed and set up. I told her I couldn’t give her a refund as my staff and the food were present; we also have an “act of God” clause in our contract. We ended up donating the food to the rescue workers in Vermont and NH in the name of the wedding. I spent the rest of the day with the Governor delivering food to firemen, policemen and rescue squads.

Who’s hardest to deal with? Brides, Grooms, parents of the Bride, parents of the Groom?

It really depends on the family’s dynamic. Many times I find I am also the therapist. I have had mothers of the bride who have been lovely to work for and then I have had mother’s who…well…I don’t like to talk about them. There are a few brides who need to be reminded that weddings aren’t just about them, they are also family reunions.

Is there a single cooking technique/trick/tip you think everyone should know?

Marinate the day before if it is chicken, pork, lamb or beef. Never fish! You will end up with more flavor and a moister dish all around, especially if you are grilling.

What’s your comfort food?

Roasted chicken cooked with wine and herbs, Basmati rice and steamed broccoli with lemon and butter. My 5 year old helps to make that favorite family dinner.

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Categories:	Caterer • Cooking tips • Fish & Seafood • Interview • Travel	2 Comments
Tags:	Caterer • Catering • Chef • cooking • Food • foodista • Interview • Putney • vermont • Wedding