We’re off to the 2009 Food and Wine Classic in Aspen for three days of delicious bliss! Stayed tuned for tasty updates as Savory Tv joins Average Betty and Plum Tv for coverage of the event! In addition to our team, we are also looking forward to meeting Jen from Daily Blender, Chef John from Food Wishes, and Danny from Foodie Aspen. Cheers and safe travels fellow foodies and epicures! À bientôt!
The current dismal state of the economy is horribly depressing, stagnant, and no one has any clue when things will turn around. Our wallets are thin, and the grocery store checkout lane almost bring tears to our eyes. Who better to turn to than professional chefs for money saving cooking and shopping tips? We put a shout out on Twitter, several chef forums, as well as scoured the recent news, and here are our results!
Break it down yourself. Our local Telluride friend Chef Bud Thomas hosts a live internet cooking show and and has a blog with gorgeously simple recipes. Bud recommends buying an entire bird, not only can you save over $13, but you can use the bones for stock.
Here is his chicken price breakdown, whole versus pieces: “:Whole $7.72. Pieces: two breasts $11.31, two thighs $2.47, two drumsticks $3.44, two wings $4.72. Total cost whole bird = $7.72 Total cost pieces = $20.79. Price difference = $13.07” Eye opening isn’t it?
Sacramento personal Chef Jeff McDonald shares his grocery shopping essentials here, and we love his tip for block cheese: “Shred cheese yourself to save money. Pre shredded cheeses are convenient, but if you’re willing to shred as you go, you’ll get twice the cheese for your money.” We all know this but do we really practice it? Next time you’re about to grab the bag of cheese, stop! Not only will your wallet thank you but your taste buds will as well.
Use every part of the animal possible, a tip Julia Child would surely endorse! Hector Santiago is the chef and owner of the Atlanta tapas restaurant Pura Vida. He tells the Restaurant Informer his means of coping. “The way I work is, I cut my costs by making sure I am using everything, every possible part of my ingredients. I get, say, a whole trout; I don’t throw anything away but the guts. If it comes with roe, we use the roe for caviar. The bones we make into stock. We get the most out of the product by making sure nothing goes to waste.”
Grow your own. Season 4 Top chef Mark Simmons from Get Fresh in Brooklyn grows a small garden in his restaurant patio. He offers organic gardening tips here, and recommends stretching your dollar by growing swiss chard, spinach, and kale, as they produce leaves for the entire growing season. Tomatoes and peppers are also recommended, as the canned sauces can be used year round.
Fish Tips: Our friend, Chef and author Ben Diaz (featured left) sent us the following tip: “When buying fish always try to buy it whole. It’s a little more work but your fish will stay fresher for up to 3 more days. Always check availability, buying fish when they are in season is a great way to save money and ensuring that you get the highest quality possible.” Thank you Ben!
In an interview with NPR, Naked Chef Jamie Oliver says that “Seafood can be expensive. There’s people’s time and labor and petrol costs to get the boats out there. Talk to your fishmonger (or local fish market) and tell him you’re on a budget and set him the task of sorting you out. Fishmongers and butchers have had a lot of business taken away from them by supermarkets. If you just talk to your butcher or fishmonger and say, I’ve only got three dollars, I’ve got two kids, what can I do? I think you’d genuinely be surprised with what you come back with.”
Shop around. Stores such as Whole Foods are so fun to shop in but can really siphon your dollars if you aren’t careful. The Washington Post reports that DC area restaurant chefs have been saving money shopping in Asian superstores such as H Mart, for their affordable and exotic ingredients including noodles, fresh seafood, and produce. If you are lucky enough to have such ethnic markets in your area, go exploring!
Shop local. North Carolina chef Amy Tornquist of Watts Grocery restaurant saves money while remaining committed to regional sustainable food. She tells Southern Living magazine “if it’s a decision between buying organic at the grocery store or fresh from your local farmers’ market, always go with local first,” and believes that small farmers primarily use organic growing methods, but may not have the size or money to be certified as organic. Her farmers market tips include: getting there early for the best selection, and to build relationships with the farmers, not only to learn more about them, but they can often give you recipe ideas and tips on how to best use their produce.
Make a list. Oprah recently had a show where celebrity chefs moved into viewers homes to help them save money. Cat Cora‘s tip is so basic but essential, always have a plan and bring a shopping list to the store, “the statistic is literally that people spend 50 percent more than they need to if they don’t have a list”. Guilty, guilty we are with this one, thinking, “the list is in my head!”. Our new mission is to never leave home without one.
Make your own. Chef Curtis Stone was also on the show and was a fan of making your own snacks. He suggests buying tortillas in packs (flour or corn) and making homemade chips as cheaper, healthier alternative to bagged chips.
Make homemade spices! Our friend Chef Ray Duey (the chef shown on the right) from Chef Garnish sent us a great tip via email. “When I juice vegetables I save the extracted pulp and dehydrate it. I then grind it and add a little sea salt and fresh ground pepper and viola, homemade, non wasted, fresh made Mrs. Dash seasoning !!” We love this one!
Stop wasting. Award winning NYC Personal Chef Mark Tafoya is one of our first chef friends we met on Twitter. Our favorite tip of his includes not wasting your broccoli stalks, remove the rough outside with a vegetable peeler and use the rest! You can listen to it here. He also has a free podcast packed with delicious recipes and tips.
Save with slow food. Chef Ming Tsai is a fan of crockpot cooking to balance your budget, and shares his favorite slow cooker recipes with the ABC show The View, including a delicious Asian Beef Stroganoff .
So there you have it! Perhaps basic, common sense tips really, but a nice reminder and reality check for us all. Do you have any favorite tips money saving tips to share? Do tell in the comments please!
Photo used with permission and taken by Jeremy Parzon, thank you!
Very exciting news! Thanks to Plum Tv and American Express Publishing, Average Betty and I will be covering the 2009 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen !
Every year in June in beautiful Aspen, Colorado, the Food and Wine Classic boasts the brightest stars in the culinary and vintner sky. Here are some of the chefs that will be shining this year: Mario Batali, José Andrés, Jacques Pépin, Ming Tsai, Mario Batali, Richard Blais, Top Chefs Stephanie Izard and Hosea Rosenberg, Tom Colicchio, Giada De Laurentiis, Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Michael Nischan, Danny Meyer, Michael Chiarello, Michel Richard, Nancy Silverton, Michael Symon, Steven Raichlen, and Mario Batali!
3 days of absolute foodie bliss, and together Average Betty and I will be working with Plum Tv to bring you the delicious inside scoop! And recently we found out that Chef John from Food Wishes will be in town to bring even more fun to the mix! (Apologies for the severe overuse of exclamation points but it cannot be helped!) We will keep you posted as the event begins on June 19th!
For a chef, a James Beard Foundation award is considered the most distinguished and prestigious honor of culinary recognition. Referred to as the “Oscars of the food world” by Time Magazine, the event is presented once a year in the Spring in New York City. Not limited to chefs and restaurants, the awards extend to broadcast media, books, journalism, and restaurant design among others. Entries begin in the Fall prior to the event. Any chef may enter to be considered for an award, and the process is as follows: First, a committee selects up to 20 semi finalists in each category. Second, the semifinalists are narrowed down by over 400 judges, who then choose 5 nominees in each category, who are announced in March. Thirdly are the final awards presented in May. Enough already, who won you say? The 2009 winners in the Chefs and Restaurants categories may be viewed here!
Darling Amanda Tice from Chic Tv attended and produced a great series of short video interviews that we love. In addition to the foundations president Susan Ungaro and restaurateur Drew Nieporent, she interviewed a delicious array of chefs. Here is a taste of her chef lineup: Daniel Boulud, Todd English, Ming Tsai, Eric Ripert, Jacques Pepin, and Thomas Keller.
Pebble Beach Food and Wine is quite possibly THE epicurean event of the year, and we’re not there! And most likely neither are you if you are reading this. Sigh. So, for those lacking the time, resources, or ability to attend these 4 days of delicious celebrating with over 250 wineries and 60 celebrity chefs, we’re providing an opportunity to live vicariously through video!
Among the chefs participating: Our beloved Eric Ripert, Thomas Keller, Tom Colicchio, Rick Tramonto, Masaharu Morimoto, David Myers, Cat Cora, Daniel Humm, David Kinch, and our culinary hero, Jacques Pépin!
A note on the first featured clip: this video was played in the motorcade en route to the Founders’ Dinner, and displays an assortment of attendees and the wines that they brought to the event.
The second video includes snippets of the festival from Chef John Mitzewich from Food Wishes. It’s great to see how a chef views the festival as an attendee, and he is amusing as always!
Today I am taking a video break to share some Twitter love! Heidi from Savory Tv is SavoryTv on Twitter. Through Twitter, we’ve entertained ourselves endlessly, kept up on Lance Armstrong’s races, met both professional and home food lovers, authors, world travelers, chefs, food producers and more. We’ve tweeted with Bravo’s Top Chef employees during the show. We’ve been snail mailed gourmet orange juice samples from Italy. We’ve been sent toddler food containers and fresh walnuts from the backyard of a deliciously talented cookbook author. We’ve discovered an entire new world of wine and food bloggers and culinary epicures, almost to an overwhelming extent. And recently, we’ve had the pleasure of meeting talented chef guest posters, which has been a wonderful experience. Twitter is truly the only way to keep up on media, news, and trends buy having your finger on the pulse of what’s happening now.
Have a question, ask you Twitter peeps! Curious if a movie is worthwhile, looking for an Iphone app for ebooks, or wondering why your photo of pear compote is looking to dark on the edges? Throw your question into the Twitterverse and you will almost always get helpful responses.
There are several restaurants using Twitter effectively, and while some are not exactly brewing with engagement, they will often post their nightly specials, special events, and occasional Twitter discounts. Food brands and stores such as Whole Foods will often answer your questions regarding products. Airline companies offer amazing flight specials at times and are often worth a follow.
Our simple Twitter rules? Don’t spam, be helpful, share, engage. Don’t go crazy with retweets, but RT messages occasionally that others will find interesting or helpful. Choose a nice well rounded circle of people to interact with.
Is Twitter essential for the growth of a successful business? No. Are you missing out on endless opportunities if you do not partake? Absolutely.
Cheers and happy tweeting!
Food trends can be fickle and short lived, and what was trendy, hip, and smoking hot yesterday can be as washed up and stale as cold leftovers today. So, what’s currently hot in the culinary world?
Every year in October, the National Restaurant Association surveys professional chefs to find out their culinary forecast for the upcoming year. This year, over 1600 chefs responded, rating over 200 foods as a “hot trend”, “yesterday’s news” or a “perennial favorite.” We found a great video summarizing the results and you may read or download the full pdf report here. What made the list? Healthy, nutritious, fresh locally grown foods, superfruits and exotic fruits, artisan cheeses, free range meats, sustainable seafood, organic wine, smaller portions and mini foods such as tapas and dim sum. Overall a refreshing focus in general and very healthy trends, let’s see if they prove to be true in the months to come!
We also found this list from top experts in the hotel and restaurant industries, with current hot food ingredients including:
– Ricotta cheese and comfort foods
– Asian noodles in broth
– Flat iron and flank steak (due to it’s affordable cost)
– Ethnic flavorings for poultry
– Breakfast foods any time of the day ( we love this one!)
– And the trendy spice for 2009 = Tarragon.
Food and travel writer Lisa Rogak authored this article with chef insights on food trends, and her list reinforces the local food, smaller portions, and affordable meat trends, in addition to tea infused foods, and savory cocktails such as Chili Serrano Martinis ( hangover anyone? ).
Other hot alcoholic beverage trends according to Epicurious include Ginger cocktails and Ginger beers. Says editor in chief Tanya Steel, ““One of the areas people are not cutting back on is liquor, people are drinking more.”
What do the Brits think of the issue? Well for one, that foodies rule, as we already are aware! Check out their predictions from the Guardian for the new year here, or watch a great video from The Food People here.
What trendy foods for 2009 does Bon Appetit see in their crystal ball? You can read the wrapup here, or the full report in the January issue, but a top trend is “Luxury for Less”, including affordable substitutions, such as eye of round for prime rib, and truffle oil instead of truffles. Peruvian food is climbing it’s way to the top of the ethnic ladder, and their top dessert ingredient of the year is peanut butter.
We’d love to know your thoughts, or if you have any predictions of your own, let us know in the comments!
(Note: Also see our newer post with additional updated food trends.)