A Million Kudos To Foodbuzz

Foodbuzz had a really splendid event last night celebrating their one millionth food post. It took place at the David Burke Townhouse in Manhattan and it was an opportunity to meet up with lots of new, and old, blogging buddies.

The Foodbuzz folks were so welcoming and happy to see all of us food bloggers. I just loved seeing Managing Editor, Ryan. Foodbuzz now has over TWO THOUSAND food blogs in their online community. And there were a lot there last night.

I saw lovely Michelle, who tasted each item with great seriousness and from whom I expect a detailed report on everything from the hamachi to the butterscotch panna cotta. It was fun meeting Diana, Soap and Chocolate and Sarah, Tales of Expansion. Someone figured out the best spot in the hallway by the kitchen to grab the trays as they came out, so Michelle and I installed ourselves there.

Other wonderful encounters were with the VERY professional, yet friendly staff.

Servers Juan

and Angelo

did superb jobs in tight quarters. Chef de Cuisine Sylvain Delpique’s food was delicious and beautifully presented. His French accent didn’t hurt either. I took quite a shine to sous chef Heinrihs.

His turkey, beef and salmon were perfectly cooked (mine were, anyway) and served with aplomb. Michelle made friends with him too.

The food. It was WONDERFUL and displayed really beautifully. The passed hors d’oeuvres included lobster dumplings, smoked salmon, chicken and foie gras dumplings and sweet chili shrimp in pineapple. The hot things were hot, the cold were cold and I wish I could relive the whole thing or at least have brought a giant Tupperware. Folks, looking at the following list of foods, will be seriously jealous that they weren’t there.

Let me try to identify the food:

Top row from left: scallops with ginger, smoked fish, hamachi, scallops and sushi, sushi

2^nd row from left: lemons, assorted shellfish, truffle pineapple sauce for shellfish, chicken and foie gras dumplings (I think), beef

3^rd row from left: salmon and turkey breast, sweet chili shrimp in pineapple, lychee martinis, apple tarts, butterscotch panna cotta

4^th row from left: dark and white chocolate cheesecakes on a stick, red velvets cakes, grapefruit and crème fraiche gelée, pecan and cinnamon buns, cream filled doughnuts

Standout dishes –

All the passed dumplings were over-the-top great. The fried ones were hot and crunchy. The steamed ones were perfectly balanced and flavored. The hamachi was firm and pink, served simply in spoons with cress, watermelon and rice wine vinegar (perhaps). My turkey (presented personally to me by Heinrihs) was perfectly just-cooked and moist. The beef was so tender and cut into tiny squares by the souschef.

The sweets – the lollipop cheesecakes were ingenious. The one bite size was perfect considering their richness. The chocolate nutella milkshake probably could have been the star of the evening, if not for its place in a huge cast of excellent desserts…with the winning dessert still to come. The butterscotch panna cotta was so pretty and smooth and only a bit too sweet. The grapefruit gelées were gorgeous and refreshing. And lastly, call them cream-filled doughnuts or call them beignets, just call ME whenever they’re served. They were SUPERB and the showstopper of the evening.

I can only hope that my fellow Foodbuzzers weren’t too put off as I rammed my way to the second of two bars when I heard lychee martinis were being served. Lychee liqueur is my favorite thing now, since I had those so-easy-drink-many-of cocktails in Palm Springs at Roy's. Interestingly, here they used lychee juice, not the liqueur.

Here’s the recipe from Alain, the bartender:

2 shots Svedka vodka

1 shot Ceres Lychee Juice

splash of simple syrup

splash of triple sec

The other bar included lychee as a garnish and thyme leaves in the mix, which I tried later. The thyme was a wonderful addition.

Great drink, but I would substitute Soho Lychee Liqueur for the lychee juice.

Thank you, Foodbuzz. You certainly know to treat us food lovers right!

Hi to all the food bloggers in attendance. These were the ones that caught my attention last night:

Eunice, NYC Crumbs

Jessica, Little Girl Big Appetite

Michelle, Taste As You Go

Diana, Soap and Chocolate

Emily, Super Caloric Chalk Dust

Sarah, Tales of Expansion

Emily and Mark, The Gourmand and The Peasant

Christy, Balance

Shoshona, Kosher Soul Food

Giff, The Constables' Larder

It's All The Buzz

Electrolux sponsored a Foodbuzz event at the Maison des Relais & Châteaux in Manhattan on Tuesday night. The living room-like space was very attractive and comfortable with a gorgeous Electrolux-supplied kitchen. Brad Steelman, chef of Brooklyn’s The River Café, demonstrated some wonderful recipes.

He was using a drop dead gorgeous convection oven with “luxury design“ lighting, which doesn’t just go on and off, it gradually illuminates the oven and slowly dims to off.

Brad roasted a beautiful brined turkey using the “Perfect Turkey” button. The oven does everything...except wash the dishes and they have a machine for that too.

Here's the chef carving the turkey:

He also showed us their induction cooktop. I’ve actually used an induction cooktop and everything Brad told us is true.

BECAUSE all the heat stays in the pot, it’s fantastic if you’re living in a small space where the burners heat up not just your kitchen, but your bedroom and bathroom too. (Of course, if you’re living in a tiny place, you probably can’t afford an induction cooktop.)

It’s also the fastest way to heat a pan to high AND it keeps a simmer magnificently OR a barely bubbling heat. All of these things I can personally attest to.

Here's a good look at induction cooking. The heat gets transferred directly to the pot, so that’s the only thing that heats up - resulting in this striking image.

BUT…there’s a big but, you must only use pans that are magnetic on the bottom, i.e. cast iron frying pans, or Lodge-type cast iron pots; Le Creuset and their ilk; or Chantal pots are ones that come to mind, so all your beautiful stainless steel is useless.

How can you tell which pots to use? If a magnet sticks to the bottom of the pot or pan, you’re good to go. However, Electrolux thought of this too, when they came out with a “Hybrid Stovetop” – 2 induction burners and 2 (or 3) sealed electric burners. As Chef Steelman explained it, you still can use your old pots and it’s convenient when you can have someone not familiar with induction cooking using the stove.

The chef whipped us up some fabulous things – goat cheese disks on melba toast with tapenade and chicken salad in tiny puff pastry rings.

This was followed by an excellent risotto.

He said I could share the recipe with you. (I'll post it tomorrow. It's long...) It may just become your go-to risotto.

During the cooking of the risotto, he reinforced an excellent mushroom cooking point. They should go in a hot pan with a bit of fat and NO SALT initially. I would have said that was because the salt will draw out the liquid and give a more steamed mushroom. Sort of, but not exactly.

Listen to this: The salt will draw out the moisture in the mushrooms and COOL DOWN THE PAN. Of course, it will! That makes such excellent sense, Chef. And, of course, a cooled down pan will begin to steam the mushrooms and take away from the browning and caramelizing on the outside of the mushroom. I just love an interesting chef. (It didn’t hurt that he was kinda cute too.)

And then he made not-at-all miniature roast turkey sliders with stuffing, cranberries and a bit of golden brown gravy.

On a different topic, I asked Brad about his well-known concern about sustainable fishing. He is committed to serving fish that come from sustainable fishing practices.

I try to avoid farm-raised fish and he agreed that was a good way to go. But that doesn’t cover all the bases. He suggested the Seafood Choices Alliance as a resource to learn more about the topic and look into which fish may be overharvested.

Okay, so I liked Brad’s boyish good looks and easy manner, but even better was his crème brûlée, served in tiny cooked pumpkins. What a fantastic dessert for pumpkin season.

His crème brûlée was so exceptional, though, that I would be nervous to have it compete with my Thanksgiving pies…It deserves to be served all on its own. Actually it was served with THESE, which couldn't have been shortbread cookies, because I don't like shortbread and I sure liked THESE!

I met (and re-met) some awfully nice bloggers. Michelle has a lovely new blog Taste As You Go. Grace from Grace [is] full was there too and Mike from NYC Donut Report!! is really great to talk to about doughnuts (and China). Yvo from The Feisty Foodie said hi; Yolanda from Kosher Soul Food is fun, fun, fun; and those Cupcake gals, Nichelle, Allison and Rachel are always entertaining.

Yolanda, Chef Steelman, Michelle and Grace

Foodbuzz Publisher Community Launches

Foodbuzz has become one of the most buzzed about food sites on the internet. It has officially launched its Foodbuzz Publisher Community with a stable of over 1000 food blogs. You'll find just about any food topic addressed on the site and lots of gorgeous pictures and reviews and interesting posts. A recent search for lavender, for example, turned up 540 results including this beautiful picture and these recipes.

Foodbuzzing...

I LOVE the beautiful apron and always useful spatula that Foodbuzz sent me in honor of the launch of the Foodbuzz Publisher Community. Check out my profile and some other great blogs.

Today And Out To Dinner

I learned 3 things on The Today Show this morning. The first is that Natalie Morales is pregnant with her 2nd child. Maybe her baby and little Jade can be friends...

The second had to do with the very affable Lucinda Scala Quinn. I had never heard of her before, but I thought she was really charming. After I read up a bit, I couldn't believe I've never seen her. I am so out of it. She's the host of the PBS series, Everyday Food and was the head food person at Martha Stewart Living.

Anyway, she was asked why we always make meatloaves in loaf pans and without hesitating she said, "Because our mothers did." THAT IS SO TRUE. My mother always made her not-very-appetizing meat loaf in a loaf pan (and she was an excellent cook...usually), and it really wasn't the better for it. Lucinda was making hers free-form, as I always do now. She just seemed full of common sense and I liked her.

This is her excellent recipe. I would add a Silver Palate spin to it. Make the mixture as Lucinda says and then pat it out into a rectangle on wax paper. Place about 8 sundried tomatoes over the meat loaf evenly in rows, do the same with a handful of basil leaves and add some sliced smoked mozzarella, if you like. From the short end, roll it up like a jelly roll (the wax paper will help you) and then bake as in the recipe. Each slice will have some of the pretty tomatoes, basil and cheese.

Lesson Number Three was part of a story on unusual things to learn in the kitchen. I didn't think that steaming vegetables to keep in their nutrients was a terribly revolutionary concept. But I didn't know that you should let your garlic sit for 10 minutes after you've sliced, chopped, or pressed it BEFORE you cook it. Why? Because breaking up garlic triggers an enzymatic reaction that releases a healthy compound called allyl sulfur; waiting to cook garlic allows enough time for the full amount of the compound to form.

Another note, on Tuesday night, the Foodbuzz folks hosted a dinner at the lovely Lupa for some local New York Foodbuzz bloggers. Foodbuzz is working hard to put together a really good networking and searchable food site. It was a lot of fun and the food was great.

These were the blogs I got the names of. (Lunch seems to be a big topic for blogs.) I like bloggers! (The Foodbuzzers were pretty fun too.)

The Feisty Foodie
Cupcakes Take The Cake
Endless Simmer
Midtown Lunch
Miss Ginsu
Kosher Soul Food
What I Made For Dinner