Recent Foodsville publications by jimr

Paul Prudhomme video series on YouTube

jim.rowson@gmail.com — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 22:12:45

I'm a major Paul Prudhomme fan. Shown to the right is my favorite Prudhomme cookbook: Louisian Kitchen.

I just stumbled across Paul Prudhomme's YouTube channel, which has 115 videos showing Paul cooking a bunch of his favorite dishes.

His recipes can be a little daunting on first read: lots of different ingredients and lots of steps. But, after you've tried a few they turn out to be easier than you might think. One of my favorites is Chicken Big Mamou.

Anybody else a Prudhomme fan?

jimr's review of Chef Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen

jim.rowson@gmail.com — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:46:06

I love this book. If you like spicy food, and haven't used this book, I highly recommend it. Prudhomme has a unique style that pre-mixes dry spices, including lots of cayenne pepper. He developed this style when he was a journeyman chef and had to sneak his own spice combinations into the restaurant.
Favorite recipes include Poorman's Jambalaya and blackened anything (I like to butterfly filet mignon).
I also use his pre-mixed seasonings, with a particular favorite being "meat magic".

Food Photography

jim.rowson@gmail.com — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:17:46

Food photography is not something that I know much about, though I enjoy taking pictures. I lurk on a blog called the Digital Photography School and they recently mentioned some pointers to tricks that food photographers use.
Some of them are kind of creepy but fun.
Here are some links:

Still Life With... (little nuggets from the front lines of food styling and photography)
Big and Tasty Food Photography Tips Roundup from Photodoto
The Ten Tastiest Food Photography Tips from Photojojo
The dirty tricks of food photographers from Photocritic

The last article had quite a few pretty amazing tricks (at least amazing to me), like:

Use motor-oil instead of syrup
Soaked and microwaved cotton balls to make steam
Spray deoderant on grapes to make them look frosty
Spray fabric protector to prevent the motor-oil from soaking into the pancakes
Squirting mashed potatos under the skin of a chicken to make it look "voluptuous"

Yummy!
Anybody around Foodsville do this stuff for a living? What other tricks and tips are there for the serious food photographer?

Gordon Biersch, my favorite beer

jim.rowson@gmail.com — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 05:10:45

Gordon Biersch is a microbrewery here in Silicon Valley. It actually got its start (or at least its initial funding) from some of the early engineers at Silicon Graphics Inc. in Mountain View. They opened their first microbrewery and restaurant in Palo Alto.

Their best beer, in my humble opinion, is Marzen (well I can't figure out how to put the two little dots on top of the a in Marzen, pronounced mare-tsen).

As it shows on the label, it is a smooth auburn lager. Very tasty. It has spoiled me for lighter and darker beers. I seem to be pretty much an amber beer drinker these days.

Gordon Biersch is known for more than just their beer. They are also one of the originators of garlic fries, now ubiquitous. I just had some fries the other night (went there for a birthday celebration and had too much beer and too much garlic (is that possible?)), and the fries are spectacular at the restaurant. Much better than those you get (branded the same) at a ballpark (they are very popular at the Giants stadium in SF).

If you can track down this beer, give it a try. You won't be disappointed.

Chicken Big Mamou on Pasta

jim.rowson@gmail.com — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:54:34

This is a very close adaptation of Paul Prudhomme's recipe from his first book Louisiana Kitchen. It appears insanely complex, and does take a bit of prep time, but the result is very worthwhile. The best part is that you can freeze this sauce and it tastes even better the second time around. As a cooking instructor once told me: cook once, eat three times.

You need to be warned, however, that if you don't like spicy food, don't make this dish!

Here's a video showing us cooking Mamou for the 2007 Superbowl.

Bon Chance!

Risotto With Prosciutto, Asparagus, And Sun Dried Tomato Recipe

jim.rowson@gmail.com — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:34:25

Risotto's are so good we named our dog after them (well...his name is actually Rizzo, but it is short for Risotto). The cool thing is that once you get into the swing of making Risotto, you will find it is easy to create your own and that they are pretty easy to make. This is one of our favorites.

Michaels Fast Easy Yummy Caesar Salad Recipe

jim.rowson@gmail.com — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:30:15

My friend Michael was the creator of this Caesar salad dressing. It is so fast and easy that we've actually worn out a mini-Cuisinart making it. Just bought another one so we don't lose an opportunity.

Pooh Biscuits

jim.rowson@gmail.com — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:57:17

We've seen what Cooking with Pooh is like, but I'll bet you have never had a Pooh Biscuit before, have you?

This is hopefully a translation problem, as it seems to be a far east product. But, given the track record, it is hard to tell.

Cooking with Pooh?

jim.rowson@gmail.com — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 03:34:59

OK, well, this is just silly. It seems that Disney has come out with a cute little cookbook aimed at kids. That in itself is just fine. It is even fine that they use Winnie the Pooh as the theme. I like Winnie. He's kind of dumb, but he's very nice and full of fluff.

However, to name the cookbook "Cooking with Pooh" is just wrong.

Soft Chewy Variant Of Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

jim.rowson@gmail.com — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 03:17:42

This is my mom's chocolate chip cookie recipe. She made it often and I loved coming home to the cookie dough in the fridge and the cookies in the jar. Yum. Watch a short movie about how this recipe has affected three generations in my family.