27 Sep 2011
by scolgin
in Recipes, Video
Tags: Chinese black beans, coconut, Hawaii, King's Hawaiian Bread, Malibu, Maui, ono, pineapple, ribs, world's best ribs
Disregard any statements I’m made in the past about the World’s Best Ribs. These bad boys are ‘ono! (That’s “the best” in Hawaiian.)
I’ve spent a lot of time in the Hawaiian islands. It’s convenient to the West Coast, and my family has a condominium on Maui. And when we’re there, I like to cook.
If you’ve not cooked in the Hawaiian Islands, you’re missing out. Even the most proletarian vegetables — onions and potatoes, for example — become infused with a tropical sweetness when grown in the volcanic soils of the islands. More
23 Sep 2011
by scolgin
in Cooking Tips, Recipes
Tags: art, finishing, Mexican, Mexico, recipe, serving, Sonora, soup, swiss chard, tortilla
A lot of the difference between what I (the average chef) do when serving a meal and what you (the average home cook) do can be summed up, at least in terms of presentation, as the subtle art of finishing.
It takes practically nothing but a little imagination to turn a dish from ordinary to inspired. Here’s a picture of some tortilla soup:
Looks reasonably good, right? And it tasted great! But now, here’s a picture of that same soup — finished with a couple tortilla chips, some sour cream, a handful of spicy pepitas and a sprinkling of ancho chili powder. More
20 Sep 2011
by scolgin
in Recipes, Video
Tags: bacon, barbecue, chicken, Gonpachi, grill, hibachi, japan, japanese, robata, steak, sumiyaki, tokyo
One of the things I like about Tokyo — and Japan, in general — is you will find different restaurants catering to specific styles of food preparation. Here in America, we have sushi bars and teppanyaki table grills (given a P.T. Barnumesque American twist where chefs flip shrimp into the air, catch eggs in their hats and make rice volcanoes). In Japan, you have ramen joints, tempura bars, shabu shabu houses, unagi (eel) restaurants, skewered chicken innards cafes and countless other establishments catering to a single style of cooking or eating. There are even, unfortunately, restaurants specializing in whale.
Sumiyaki
With our large Japanese population in Los Angeles, more and more of these diverse eateries are appearing. More
16 Sep 2011
by scolgin
in Observations, Video, World's Best Sandwiches
Tags: Bob's Big Boy, Bolognese, burger, burgers, Hawaii, Laurel Tavern, loco moco, McDonalds, Toni's Soul Burger, Wine Guerrilla
Following are some of the additional reflections, aborted videos, also-rans and other tidbits that didn’t make it into my main burger odyssey posts. But which I thought worth sharing either as humorous asides or worthwhile nuggets of wisdom. You decide.
BBQ Soul burger, levitating
Best Burger I Never Tried
In the face of burger trends and zeitgeists, I admire those who hew to their own path. Toni’s Soul Burger, a stand in a part of Inglewood not on any of my itineraries, got a full-page spread in the L.A. Times Food section awhile back. Sort of the opposite of the upscale gourmet burger. So I thought it worth a trek south and set out one fine Monday around lunchtime. More
13 Sep 2011
by scolgin
in Observations, Video, World's Best Sandwiches
Tags: burgers, grass fed beef, hamburger, José Andrés, padron peppers, Picasso, recipes, Skinny Girls, umami, Umami Burger
So here I am back in the Skinny Girls kitchen — my “burger lab.” Eating so many different burgers, thinking and writing about burgers, got me wondering what I’d learned in my odyssey — besides where to go for a good burger, which I mostly already knew. How would what I had discovered, exposited on, praised the virtues of or extolled upon the deficiencies of ultimately affect my own approach to burger making? Had there been an “aha” moment?
The Skinny Girl Burger
Curiously, the two biggest takeaways came from thinking about Umami Burger, which was one of my least favorite of the places I wrote about (less because of their burgers than my reflexive aversion to anything trendy). More
Previous Older Entries Next Newer Entries
skinny girls & mayonnaise 