Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Congratulations Carol!

If you haven't been to Carol's blog, then you are truly missing something. Oh, if only Carol would get her own cooking show. Now that, I would totally watch. And it would freakin' ROCK. Carol emailed me this today, from the Wall Street Journal:
And not just any morning paper, mind you.� From today's Wall Street Journal -- enjoy!
PORTALS
By LEE GOMES
Latest Web Bloggers Give Cooking The Books a Whole New Meaning May 28, 2008;�Page�B6

Generic food blogs are the scrambled eggs of culinary blogging. They require little in the way of skill and next to nothing in terms of equipment -- just a digital camera and a broadband connection.

A particular kind of food blog, however, has become the genre's Canard a la Presse Tour d'Argent. These are "cook-through" blogs, in which someone picks a cookbook and then doesn't stop cooking and blogging until the dishes for every recipe have been washed and put away.

The necessary ingredient: You need to be a little crazy.

Carol Blymire, a Washington, D.C., public-relations consultant, for example, has been writing "French Laundry at Home" since last year. With no real cooking experience beyond Thanksgiving dinner, she is tackling the 130 or so recipes in Thomas Keller's "French Laundry Cookbook," which may be the most technically challenging American cookbook ever written.

No matter, says Ms. Blymire, "I just opened it up and said to myself, 'Let's see what happens.'�"

The site has become a huge hit in the food blogosphere, winning awards and attracting 4,000 to 5,000 visitors a day. It also has become the template for many other such cook-along blogs, with pictures of the dish at various stages of development and a rating of the final result. Personal asides are often folded in as well. (These are, after all, blogs.) Ms. Blymire uses a Miss Smartypants persona and often brags of her two loves: New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and bacon.

Cook-along bloggers say they start projects for any number of reasons: to learn culinary basics, to expand a cooking repertoire or simply to prove to themselves that they can stick with a big project from beginning to end.

Ryan S. Adams, who works in Austin for computer-graphics company Nvidia, says he was inspired by Ms. Blymire's work to start on "The Whole Beast," the offal-and-all British coobook that has a cult following in the foodie world. With dishes like "Cold Lamb's Brains on Toast," Mr. Adams says finding willing diners can sometimes be as challenging as the cooking. Ditto shopping. "I don't know where I am going to get a woodcock," he says. "I may have to go out and hunt one myself."

Perhaps the most impressive of all the cookbook blogs are the three devoted to the 2004 edition of Gourmet magazine's "The Gourmet Cookbook" -- all 5� pounds and 1,300-odd recipes of it. Befitting this culinary Everest, all three writers are overachievers in their professional lives.

Teena Gerhardt, the first blogger to tackle the book, got her Ph.D. in mathematics from MIT and now muses about algebraic topology at Indiana University. Kevin Casey is a graduate student in neuroscience at McGill University. Melissa Palladino, of Rockport, Mass., is working on a cookbook of her own, a Western-gourmet take on Ayurvedic food from India.

The three are cooking at different rates, posting one to seven recipes a week. The project is requiring not only time but also an open wallet. The grocery bills for the entire Gourmet collection is expected to run between $30,000 and $40,000.

Cookbook bloggers typically don't print the complete recipes on their blogs in an effort not to undermine sales of the selected cookbook, which is usually treated with deep affection, even reverence.

A typical attitude is that of Laurie Woodward, the Pittsburgh mom who runs "Tuesdays With Dorie," devoted to "Baking," the latest cookbook by Dorie Greenspan, one of country's most popular baking writers and a master of American and French classics.

"Dorie is like a god to a lot of bakers," says Ms. Woodward. "And she is so nice about checking in on our blog. Sometimes, she even posts something on it, and everyone goes nuts when she does."

Ms. Greenspan said in an interview that she is, indeed, charmed by the blog and considers such sites to be part of the new Web world in which professional food writers like herself are learning to work.

Perhaps the first of this genre was the Julie/Julia Project from 2002, in which Julie Powell, posing as something of a Manhattan underachiever, cooked all of the recipes from Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Those Web musings (it had no pictures) went on to be printed in a best-selling book, and are now being made into a movie starring Meryl Streep.

Few of today's bloggers expect such breakout success, though Ms. Blymire has filmed a pilot for a possible Food Network show and also has had early talks about doing a cookbook.

The fact that the viewership on the blogs is far below what's needed to earn a living is fine with these writers, who say there are ample other rewards for their efforts. Cathy Irish of Maryland, who in November -- after three years, 45 pounds of butter and a pint of vanilla extract -- finished baking everything in "Maida Heatter's Cookies," says she came away from the experience with many new friends, including several with whom she has since visited in real life.

That same sense of community has also struck Mr. Casey, one of those cooking "Gourmet." After he started his project, he learned that his uncle had done something similar with the "Larousse Gastronomique" during the 1970s.

"He was this lone little guy doing this and enjoying it, but he didn't have an avenue to share it," says Mr. Casey. "Now, we can all share it with the whole world."

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Cook-Through Blogging May 27, 2008 9:09 p.m.

Bloggers are slicing and dicing their way through every recipe of a cookbook. Here are excerpts from some of these blogs, and the cookbooks behind them.

"French Laundry Cookbook" by Thomas Keller

French Laundry At Home by Carol Blymire:

"Here's where the fun really begins. Splitting a pig's skull? Wow. Really? There's also text in the book about how to make sure you get the cheek meat and the meat at the temple� (Note: If you're going to try this dish, your butcher will do the sawing-the-head-in-half part for you, and I highly recommend letting him. This is not easy. Not at all. Especially when you have a crap saw and even your power tools couldn't really do the job neatly or easily.)"

"The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating" by Fergus Henderson

Nose to Tail at Home by Ryan S. Adams:

"This dessert is very, very unusual, but in a good way. Texture-wise it was like an ultra thick, rubbery custard. The pudding by itself had a mildly sweet, seaweed-like flavor to it. Though when combined with the jam and whipped cream, the pudding began playing the part of a backup singer. When I took a bite, the pudding was still there and still an important part of the song, but muted. The jam and the rich whipped cream took center stage, but they would have been way too sweet without the balance of the Caragheen."

"The Gourmet Cookbook" by Ruth Reichl

The Gourmet Project by Teena Gerhard:

"Consequently, if I made it again I would simply leave the cherries out of the filling, and still bring the cherry flavor into the dish with the sauce. My other complaint was that it was nearly impossible to extricate the crust from the pan. I buttered very generously, but still, in the battle between the pan and the cake, the bottom crust sided with the pan every time. It was a shame too because the crust was very delicious!"

The Gourmet Project by Kevin Casey:

"The chocolate filling is wonderful, and everyone loves ganache, but the cookie itself was my favourite part. I really like flourless cookies like this, the almonds provide substance, but the structure is all from the meringue. The outer surface of the cookie was smooth and crisp, the interior was like almond sponge candy, soft, but with just a little bit of toothsomeness. Despite all the sugar, they miraculously avoided being too sweet."

Cooking Gourmet by Melissa Palladino:

"I'm not sure what it was about this dessert that just didn't do it for me. Maybe it was that the caramel (yes, another dish with caramel) added a bitter note. Maybe it was that it wasn't quite sweet enough to offset that tiny hint of bitterness. Maybe it just wasn't the right time of year and would have gone over better in the summer when ANYTHING cool and creamy hits the spot."

"Baking: From My Home To Yours" by Dorie Greenspan

Tuesdays With Dorie by Laurie Woodward:

"Brianna was on the same wave length when it came to doing her pie. She did a parfait too, an elegant presentation that ends up looking like the grown up version of the one above. She skipped the meringue, and I can't help but give a little cheer. Whipped cream is so perfect with the lime flavours, and it made this so fluffy and light looking. The zest on top really adds the right sophistication to her dessert."

"Maida Heatter's Cookies" by Maida Heatter

Mondays With Maida by Cathy Irish:

"Catelynn turns one in a few days so family and friends gathered this past Saturday to celebrate� The theme was turtles and I got my inspiration from the invitation which had a cute stylized turtle on it. I decided to use marzipan this time (the gum paste I used for the decorations on Cassidy's first birthday cupcakes was tasteless - bleh!). I used chocolate jimmies for the eyes and little white non-pareils to decorate the shells."

"Mexican Everyday" by Rick Bayless

Mexican Everyday with Rick Bayless by Mark Pearson:

"An awesome non-mayo-based potato salad. Perhaps one of the best such potato salads I've ever eaten. Although it's slightly oily, I quickly ceased noticing so it can't be a big deal. Still, next time I'll cut down on the oil a bit� Leftovers had a stronger tuna odor, although still lacked much tuna flavor. I'm not sure if I'll bother adding more tuna next time I make this dish. Consider this as a warning to simply think of the dish as a potato salad, nothing more."

Bon Appetit Magazine's Top 100 Dishes

Project Recipe by Chris Hall and Bridget Moloney:

"I have never enjoyed scavenger hunts. I like foot races (even though I have actually never won a single one), and the idea of treasure. But the combination leaves me cold. I mention this only because shopping for my Roasted Asparagus with Fresh Fava Beans and Morels was a downright quest... So, when faced with the task of picking out FRESH (as in, still in the pod) favas, I was a little nervous. I was not quite sure what they looked like. It turns out neither does one of the guys who works in the Union Square Whole Foods produce section."

Check out Carol's blog folks: Carol Cooks Keller. And do watch the video. And for those of you not in the know, Keller would be Thomas Keller of The French Laundry.

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