The teen version of Bravo’s Top Chef pitted two teams of public school teens against each other in a live timed culinary competition in the New York Institute of Technology’s auditorium.

Hosted by George Duran, star of TLC’s Ultimate Cake Off, the event was part of a larger fundraiser for the nutrition and culinary non profit Family Cook Productions featuring a strolling dinner, cocktails, and a silent auction.

Dressed in purple t-shirts, Team Egypt hustled to create rutabaga soup with cumin and stuffed grape leaves. Across the stage, orange clad Team Japan prepared cod with tomato, Shitake mushrooms and fennel with chive rice balls and edible flowers. Adding a twist to the competition, each team needed to incorporate a surprise ingredient into their dish − sorrel. Neither team was familiar with sorrel and they were advised to taste the ingredient to determine how best to incorporate it into their dishes.

A panel of judges including Vandaag Executive Chef, Philip Kirschen-Clark and former First Lady of New York Michelle Paige Patterson reviewed the dishes while the enthusiastic audience texted their votes to determine a winner. Despite Team Egypt’s strong knife skills, Team Japan overwhelmingly won the competition.

George Duran interviewed each teen about their food preferences and how the program has helped them. Meg Hamby from Laurel, DE said that despite her tough upbringing in foster care, she has learned how to eat healthier and not feed her son so much fast food. Team Egypt’s captain, Molly Bhuiyan, said diabetes runs in her family and she is motivated to eat better and stay healthy.

Teen Battle Chef performs culinary “showdowns” at Whole Foods and has competed at NYChilifest at Chelsea Market. Find Teen Battle Chef on Facebook and go see them live because these teens have so much enthusiasm for the program you can’t help but cheer them on.

If you listen closely at Morscher’s Pork Store, you’ll hear bits of German, Polish, Romanian, and Yugoslavian spoken.

The seasoned staff seem hidden behind countless homemade weisswurst, bratwurst and krainerwurst suspended over the chest high counter.

Behind the staff only door, Herbie Morscher and store partner Seigfried “Siggy” Strahl plan for the day.  Within moments of meeting them, both men crack bawdy jokes in true butcher style. But when Herbie and Siggy step in the back room to talk about their stainless steel equipment, they are all business.

One of Morsher’s prized possessions is a $50,000 Handtman stuffer, imported directly from Germany. This sausage making machine produces enough links in 20 minutes time as would take two men an hour and a half to do by hand.  Other stainless steel machines (at about $40,000 a piece) handle grinding, emulsifying and smoking meat.

Herbie and Siggy invest heavily in German or Austrian equipment because as Siggy simply puts it – “those machines never break down.” Both men relish the challenge of keeping their homemade meat products fresh and authentic because Morscher’s is one of the last German butchers still operating in Ridgewood. When the family business first opened in 1957, Ridgewood was predominantly German with many German butchers competing for business.

Herbie knows the ethnic backgrounds of his regular customers. Over the years he’s learned key phrases and numbers in their languages to make them feel at home when in his store.

For Herbie, “serving the sizzle, not just the steak” is all in a days work.

Stop by on a Saturday and you’re likely to see Herbie behind the counter, charming his customers and proudly selling a steaming hot tray of Kaiser Franz Josef Fleisch which is rib belly with the skin on.

TEEN  BATTLE  CHEF  INVITATIONAL — LIVE @ “Kitchen Stadium” on Broadway:

Student Competition with Celebrity Chef George Duran

Supports Youth Health & Career Development

NEW YORK, NY- Aprll 21, 2011 — FamilyCook Productions, a national nonprofit that brings people of all ages together around delicious fresh food, while positively impacting their health and well-being, announces the Teen Battle Chef Invitational competition and fundraiser at New York Institute of Technology Auditorium a.k.a. Kitchen Stadium on Broadway, 1871 Broadway, New York City, on Thursday, May 12, from 6:30pm to 10:00 pm. (Media, photo and Video opportunities from 5:45 p.m. )

Guests will savor a delicious strolling dinner before and after the show, prepared by top NYC chefs. There also will be a silent auction of one-of-kind cooking parties in your home with master chefs! Donor/VIP Tickets are $250. General Admission is $50 at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/169804.

The Invitational comprises top Teen Battle Chef teams from NYC, NJ and CT high schools competing on stage live with TLC Celebrity Chef Host George Duran. Watch as the teams battle to create international recipes using ‘secret spring ingredients’ supplied by Duran, and race to the finish!  The audience members will text their votes to select the winning team!  A panel of celebrity chef judges, including four-time James Beard Award winning cookbook author Rozanne Gold, will rate the teams’ efforts.

Monies raised will support the Teen Battle Chef students’ career readiness mentoring instruction and paid summer internships in their communities. The jobs include leading nutrition and cooking presentations, farmers market cooking demonstrations and service learning with younger students.

The cooking competition, showcasing the skills of high school students in HealthCorps, Montefiore, Urban Assembly and other after school programs, features Family Cook Productions’ Teen Battle Chef nutritional cooking program.  For more information on Teen Battle Chef and FamilyCook, please visit www.familycookproductions.com or call 212/867-3929.

For more information or with questions regarding this event or FCP, please contact Dana Bos at 917.215.8030/Email: bosfam@optonline.net OR Chris Cook at FamilyCook Productions at 212.867.3929/Email: chriscooknyc@gmail.com

Signage for some of the 300 kinds of cheese for sale.

Lou Di Palo, of the infamous Di Palo’s Fine Foods in Little Italy, has devoted his life to Italian food. His great grandfather opened a latteria (dairy store) in 1910 and four generations later, Lou and his siblings  run their store the same way it was done over a century ago. Their business is deeply personal. Much like the 300 cheeses sold, their customer service is to be savored and not rushed. You are coming into their home and they want you to understand and taste before you purchase. As Lou says, “it’s a more civilized way” of doing business.

Sitting down with a cup of tea, Lou takes his time with me as if I were his only appointment of the day. With Easter coming up, we discuss traditional Italian Easter dishes including Pizza Rustica, Arancini (rice balls), and Pastiera, a ricotta cheesecake made with wheat berries. He speaks graciously and astutely, with an encyclopedic knowledge of regional Italian food.

Lou Di Palo weighing sliced Prosciutto

Colorfully wrapped Italian chocolate eggs hang from Di Palo's ceiling for Easter.

Pizza Rustica is a beloved Easter dish because it contains an abundance of everything poor Italians didn’t have much of during the year amassed into one pie. It’s literally bursting at the seams with four cheeses, four meats, and ten eggs. Not surprisingly, most Italians have fond memories of this robust and hearty dish.

Native to Sicily, arancini are fried rice balls popular around Easter. During Lent, Di Palo’s sells a meatless version of arancini stuffed with Asiago and Grana Padano cheese. Lou explains that Padano means “of the Po,” which is a river that runs though Northern Italy. Milk that becomes Grana Padano originates from cows that feed in the Po’s fertile basin.

Sal and Marie Di Palo co-own the family business with Lou.

Fresh mozzarella made onsite daily.

Cured meats and more for sale.

Aside from the learning details of Italian food, what is so remarkable about Di Palo’s is their unique philosophy of life and business. At Di Palo’s, they take the attitude that they have no competition. They only have friends and associates in the business and Di Palo’s knowledge is for all to share.

That aesthetic echoes in Lou’s advise to new customers. He encourages you to come when the store is busy. Take a number and get involved with other customers patiently waiting. Move close to the counter to watch and listen so you can learn, understand and discover a host of products you never knew existed.

Special thanks to Lou Di Palo for his graciousness and thanks to Colangelo and Partners Public Relations, for arranging the interview.

Virginia Ham and Biscuits with Hoppin' John in the background

The Culinary Historians of New York commemorated the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War with a lecture by Andrew F. Smith, author of the recently published book “Starving the South: How the North Won the Civil War.”

A pre-lecture reception featured mingling over drinks and a spread of Southern dishes including Hoppin’ John, hardtack, fried okra, grits, and Virginia Ham and biscuits.

Smith’s lecture explained crucial changes in food production and distribution during the Civil War and emphasized how the North’s campaign to starve the South played a direct role in the Confederacy’s defeat.

Mini Hardtack minus the grubs

A few key lecture points included:

• The South chose to grow cash crops instead of food because it was cheaper to import food from the Midwest and focus their resources on growing lucrative cash crops including cotton, tobacco, rice and sorghum.
• Confederate control of the lower Mississippi river, forced the North to rely on railways to transport food to East Coast harbors for the first time.
• After the 1863 siege of Vicksburg, Grant and Sherman focused part of their military strategy on destroying Confederate supply lines and civilian food supplies – a tactic that left parts of Georgia and Mississippi devastated for years.
• George Custer seized the last few supply trains during the Confederacy’s last stand at Appomattox, directly contributing to Lee’s surrender the following day.

If events about historical foodways interests you half as much as it interests me, take a moment to review the Culinary Historians of New York’s website and be sure to check out their past events link where you can kick yourself for having missed “TV: Dinners A History of Television Cooking Shows” and “Swindled: The Dark History of Food Fraud from Poisoned Candy to Counterfeit Coffee.”

Adrian Ashby won 1st place people's choice

Ashby's duck cannoli cream with strawberry compote

Smoked duck breast to sample at the Tasting Table

George Weld (left) of Egg Restaurant served a spin of duck pot pie on puff pastry

Load up yer plates!

Demien Repucci (right) prepping his duck confit meatballs

Greenpoint Duck Porter to pair with the various dishes

Here is a brief photo recap from the Duck off at Jimmy’s No. 43.

Eight professional and amateur chefs battled it out with duck based dishes to win the coveted Golden Ducky Award. Proceeds from the packed event benefited Food Systems Network NYC.

Scallops with Lime and Cilantro
serves two

Olive oil
2 minced garlic cloves
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups chicken broth
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 pound sea scallops
Salt and pepper

In a small saucepan heat a little olive oil and cook the garlic until golden, then add the white wine and cook for a couple minutes, until slightly reduced. Add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Squeeze in the lime juice, add the cilantro, and taste and adjust seasoning. Keep warm while you cook the scallops.

Toss scallops in a bowl with a tablespoon of olive oil and a little salt and pepper. Heat a heavy frying pan over high heat. When the pan is very, very hot, add the scallops and cook very quickly, shaking and stirring, until they are barely golden on the outside and warm within. This will take one to two minutes – no more.

Divide the scallops between two pasta bowls and pour the broth over them. This is good served over rice or linguine, too.

VERDICT – Good, but next time I’ll  tweak the broth more and sear the scallops.

Brooklyn Kombucha

Salad

Cooking demo by Terry Hope Romero

Marshmallows

Mini cupcake eating competition

Oh, those snickerdoodles!

Behold the crowds!

Vegetarians, vegans and omnivores (like myself) waited up to three torturous hours for entry into the NYC Vegetarian Food Festival on Sunday. For those who didn’t collapse outside from soy deprivation or exhaustion, you’re reward was a day long celebration with food, cooking demonstrations, speakers, eating competitions, music and even belly dancing.

Once inside the venue, pandemonium ensued with wall to wall people clamoring desperately around vendor tables for samples of everything from marshmallows to soy cheese, to plantain chips and snickerdoodles. The crowd was so thick in some areas you could barely move and the ripe smell of a few crunchy, granola types forgoing antiperspirant began to waft a little.

But let me tell you about those snickerdoodles. They are made by Liz Lovely, an artisan vegan bakery in Vermont. Jesus Christ himself must be on the production line in their factory because I’m convinced these soft baked cinnamon sugar snickerdoodles can help bring peace in the Middle East. Vegan baked goods often taste like a cardboard travesty to me.  However, these snickerdoodles were light, yet decadent. Sweet, yet not too sugary. In a word – transcendental.

Raw Ice Cream Company had a sublime spread of vegan ice cream including Mint Chip, Cinnamon Vanilla and Chocolate. Not only did the ice cream taste rich and creamy, but the staff had a FAQ sheet to hand out to bloggers. So hey folks, props to recognizing bloggers!

Despite the horrendous line, obscene crowds, and a poorly organized cupcake eating competition, the event was still a success because of the variety it offered in both food and knowledge. This meat eater can’t wait til next year.

Housing Works Bookstore Cafe threw their wildly successful “A Taste of Home” benefit hosted by Executive Chef and Food Network personality Alex Guarnaschelli. The event featured an exclusive tasting from five renowned NYC chefs, as well as Dos Caminos’ guacamole.

This particular post is recapped via a slideshow in honor of my first attempt to use my Canon 50D at food events. It’s a work in progress….