Show 259, February 3, 2018: James Beard Award-winning Authors Karen Page & Andrew Dornenburg (Photographer), Kitchen Creativity

Karen Page and Andrew DornenburgEclipsing painters and musicians, chefs have emerged as the world’s leading creative professionals—so there’s no better place to turn for insight into the “Big Game Sunday” creative process than the pages of the new book by two-time James Beard Award winners author Karen Page and photographer Andrew Dornenburg, creators of the beloved 400,000-copy bestseller The Flavor Bible, named one of the ten best cookbooks of the past century by Forbes.

KITCHEN CREATIVITY: Unlocking Culinary Genius—with Wisdom, Inspiration, and Ideas from the World’s Most Creative Chefs (Little, Brown; Oct 2017) is filled with secrets and strategies from more than 100 leading culinary minds—including José Andrés, Dan Barber, Rick Bayless, Daniel Boulud, Amanda Cohen, Kyle Connaughton, Curtis Duffy, Emily Luchetti, Eric Ripert, Marcus Samuelsson, and Joshua Skenes. Beyond a cookbook, KITCHEN CREATIVITY is a guide to a more inventive and intuitive approach to cooking (without recipes!)—one that will inspire readers to think, improvise, and cook like the world’s best chefs.

KITCHEN CREATIVITY includes a “Big Game Sunday” section where famous chefs have their ideas listed to include:

  • Nancy Longo, Pierpont Restaurant (Baltimore) – Corn Fried Soft Shell Crab with Smoked Gouda Grits and Cherry Relish

Karen and Andrew are our encore guest.

Show 250, December 2, 2017: James Beard Award-winning Author, Karen Page, Kitchen Creativity

Karen PagePerhaps eclipsing painters and musicians, chefs have emerged as the world’s leading creative professionals—so there is no better place to turn for insight into the creative process than the pages of the new book by two-time James Beard Award-winners author Karen Page and photographer Andrew Dornenburg, creators of the beloved 400,000-copy bestseller The Flavor Bible, named one of the ten best cookbooks of the past century by Forbes.

KITCHEN CREATIVITY: Unlocking Culinary Genius—with Wisdom, Inspiration, and Ideas from the World’s Most Creative Chefs is filled with secrets and strategies from more than 100 leading culinary minds—including José Andrés, Dan Barber, Rick Bayless, Daniel Boulud, Amanda Cohen, Kyle Connaughton, Curtis Duffy, Emily Luchetti, Eric Ripert, Marcus Samuelsson, and Joshua Skenes. Beyond a cookbook, KITCHEN CREATIVITY is a guide to a more inventive and intuitive approach to cooking (without recipes!)—one that will inspire readers to think, improvise, and cook like the world’s best chefs.

Anyone who’s ever dreamed of walking into a kitchen and creating a dish from scratch, knowing exactly how to season it to perfection, will find the book’s three-stage process a godsend:

  • In Stage 1: Mastery, a cook copies the masters—their dishes, their techniques, their seasoning—to develop a knowledge and skill base. Here, Page recommends essential books for the chef’s library, explains the difference between enhancing flavor and adding flavor, lists trusted food sources for the best-quality ingredients, and demonstrates how to learn time-tested flavor pairings and affinities.
  • During Stage 2: Alchemy, a cook integrates and applies new knowledge and experience, converting ingredients and classic dishes into something fresh.
  • By Stage 3: Creativity, a cook connects and combines elements into a new creation. Page teaches you how to take a look at the cooking techniques you know, and the dishes you love, to play with different combinations and create dishes without recipes, using your informed imagination. You’ll also find countless proven techniques for enhancing creativity through both stimulation (including travel, reading, and dining out) and stillness (such as lowering brain wave frequencies via meditation and yoga).

The book’s A-to-Z section prompts starting points for creative inspiration, from flavor pairings for marijuana, to Damian Sansonetti’s idea of grinding Italian rice to make gluten-free gnocchi, to the dishes top chefs cook on Super Bowl Sunday.

Karen Dornenburg is our guest.

Show 117, April 11, 2015: Karen Page – The Vegetarian Flavor Bible

Karen Page and Andrew DornenburgTwo-time James Beard Award-winning author Karen Page revolutionized the way both professional chefs and home cooks think about and create new dishes – based on compatible flavors instead of recipes – with her bestseller, The Flavor Bible, which Forbes named as one of the ten best cookbooks of the past century. Now Page brings the same innovative approach to plant-based cooking with The Vegetarian Flavor Bible. Photographs are by Andrew Dornenburg (Karen’s husband.)

For the first time in history, per-capita consumption of meat in America has fallen for five consecutive years, with predictions of continuing declines. Vegetarianism and veganism are emerging from the margins and into the mainstream, as 54 percent of Americans now wish to decrease or eliminate meat from their diets. While people have chosen to adopt meatless diets throughout history for a variety of reasons – from ethics to economy to personal and planetary well-being – this book suggests a new reason for doing so: maximizing flavor, which is too often masked by meat-based stocks or butter and cream.

Karen Page is our guest.

Show 117, April 11, 2015: Karen Page – The Vegetarian Flavor Bible Continues…

Karen Page and Andrew DornenburgAfter losing members of her family to cancer, the author – an established culinary professional – was shocked to learn that the number-one cause of death in America is nutritionally controllable diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. A lifelong omnivore who grew up eating meat “two and often three times a day,” Page was motivated by nutrition studies to experiment with vegetarianism. She eventually eliminated meat from her diet, losing digestive aches and pains and more than twenty pounds in the process, while gaining new vitality and even joy – and she pours here newfound passion into this book.

Page shares what she’s learned about making dishes with the most healthful, nutrient-dense ingredients available (vegetables, fruits, legumes, grains, nuts, and seeds) taste so delicious that their meatlessness is entirely beside the point.

At the heart of The Vegetarian Flavor Bible are the A-to-Z listings of hundreds of ingredients (from acai to zucchini blossoms), and the herbs, spices, and other seasonings that best enhance their flavor. Searching by ethnic cuisine or flavor or season, the reader will find endless inspiration for harmonious combinations.

April 11: Andrew Gruel, National Grilled Cheese Month, Karen Page, Andrew Dornenburg, Big Island Chocolate Festival, Aarti Sequeira

Podcasts

Segment One: Show Preview with Guest Host Chef Andrew Gruel and Producer & Co-Host Andy Harris
Segment Two: Artisan Baker Dean Kim – “The Big Cheese” Competition
Segment Three: Karen Page – The Vegetarian Flavor Bible Part One
Segment Four: Karen Page – The Vegetarian Flavor Bible Part Two
Segment Five: Big Island Chocolate Festival
Segment Six: Food Network’s Chef Aarti Sequeira Part One
Segment Seven: Food Network’s Chef Aarti Sequeira Part Two
Segment Eight: Executive Chef Andrew Gruel, Slapfish

Executive Chef Andrew Gruel of the rapidly growing Slapfish empire with restaurants in Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, and, now, Newport Beach is today’s special Guest Host.

Now a preview of today’s delightfully fully-leaded and content-rich show.

In celebration of National Grilled Cheese Month in April Provisions Market (Chef Greg Daniels) and OC Baking Company (Dean Kim) will join forces to once again host The Big Cheese, Orange County’s grilled cheese festival and competition. Event Co-Founder Greg Daniels and his fellow Orange County Chefs will compete for the title of “The Big Cheese” on Monday, April 20th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Provisions Market. All proceeds from this year’s event will be donated to You Are Special, a local nonprofit that operates a food pantry to feed the hungry in the Orange community.

Two-time James Beard Award-winning author Karen Page revolutionized the way both professional chefs and home cooks think about and create new dishes – based on compatible flavors instead of recipes – with her bestseller, The Flavor Bible, which Forbes named as one of the ten best cookbooks of the past century. Now Page brings the same innovative approach to plant-based cooking with The Vegetarian Flavor Bible. Photographs are by Andrew Dornenburg (Karen’s husband.) Karen Page is our guest along with Andrew Dornenburg.

Craving chocolate ? Who doesn’t ? The fourth annual Big Island Chocolate Festival (Hawaii) delivers with an array of fun, elegant and taste-tempting activities, seminars and culinary adventures May 7th to 9th. Most of the chocolately goodness will be offered at The Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii, but three new events take place at Kona farms. Hawaii is the only state in the United States that can grow cacao. Farsheed Bonakdar, the President of the Kona Cacao Association and acclaimed chocolatier and pastry chef Donald Wressell of Guittard Chocolate Company join us with a preview.

“My first cookbook, Aarti Paarti : An American Kitchen with an Indian Soul is a love letter to both the flavors of my youth as an Indian girl growing up in the Middle East…and the flavors that embrace me in my new home here in the States” “I’ll walk you through 101 recipes, some simplified versions of Indian classics…and some that show you how to use these same Indian spices to create exciting spins on American favorites. Food Network’s Aarti Sequeira is our guest. She will be doing a cooking demo and book-signing at next weekend’s Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at USC.

Finally a chance to chat with Guest Host Chef Andrew Gruel of Slapfish. He’ll share some useful tips about selecting and preparing lobster. This is a conversation started on last week’s show. Chef Andrew will also advise us on what parts of the lobster are best for use in some familiar dishes. We’ll also talk about what is an authentic lobster roll. They are seemingly appearing on menus everywhere.

All of this and lots more absolutely incredible deliciousness on Saturday’s show!

The Big Cheese Grilled Cheese CompetitionIn celebration of National Grilled Cheese Month in April Provisions Market (Chef Greg Daniels) and OC Baking Company (Dean Kim) will join forces to once again host The Big Cheese, Orange County’s grilled cheese festival and competition. Event Co-Founder Greg Daniels and his fellow Orange County Chefs will compete for the title of “The Big Cheese” on Monday, April 20th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Provisions Market. All proceeds from this year’s event will be donated to You Are Special, a local nonprofit that operates a food pantry to feed the hungry in the Orange community.

OC Baking Company Master Baker Dean Kim will supply locally produced, freshly baked bread to the competing chefs. The competitors will present their own spin on the classic grilled cheese sandwich that festival attendees will sample and then vote on.

This year, the professional chefs will be joined by one ProAm competitor who will be selected by event organizers in an Instagram contest. To enter, the public must create and present an original grilled cheese creation on Instagram and use the hashtag #thebigcheese2015 by Thursday, April 16th. The winning entry will be announced Friday, April 17th and the ProAm contender for “The Big Cheese” will participate in the festival on Monday, April 20th.

Artisan Baker Dean Kim of the OC Baking Company joins us with all the needed 411.

Karen Page and Andrew DornenburgTwo-time James Beard Award-winning author Karen Page revolutionized the way both professional chefs and home cooks think about and create new dishes – based on compatible flavors instead of recipes – with her bestseller, The Flavor Bible, which Forbes named as one of the ten best cookbooks of the past century. Now Page brings the same innovative approach to plant-based cooking with The Vegetarian Flavor Bible. Photographs are by Andrew Dornenburg (Karen’s husband.)

For the first time in history, per-capita consumption of meat in America has fallen for five consecutive years, with predictions of continuing declines. Vegetarianism and veganism are emerging from the margins and into the mainstream, as 54 percent of Americans now wish to decrease or eliminate meat from their diets. While people have chosen to adopt meatless diets throughout history for a variety of reasons – from ethics to economy to personal and planetary well-being – this book suggests a new reason for doing so: maximizing flavor, which is too often masked by meat-based stocks or butter and cream.

Karen Page is our guest along with Andrew Dornenburg.

After losing members of her family to cancer, the author – an established culinary professional – was shocked to learn that the number-one cause of death in America is nutritionally controllable diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. A lifelong omnivore who grew up eating meat “two and often three times a day,” Page was motivated by nutrition studies to experiment with vegetarianism. She eventually eliminated meat from her diet, losing digestive aches and pains and more than twenty pounds in the process, while gaining new vitality and even joy – and she pours here newfound passion into this book.

BIg Island Chocolate FestivalCraving chocolate? Who doesn’t? The fourth annual Big Island Chocolate Festival (Hawaii) delivers with an array of fun, elegant and taste-tempting activities, seminars and culinary adventures May 7th to 9th. Most of the chocolatey goodness will be offered at The Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii, but three new events take place at Kona farms. Hawaii is the only state in the United States that can grow cacao.

On Saturday, May 9th the 3-days of chocolate fun at The Big Island Chocolate Festival culminates from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the Fairmont’s Grand Ballroom for the festival gala. Attendees can enjoy both savory and sweet chocolate cuisine created by top Island chefs, chocolatiers and confectioners while voting for their favorite culinary station. Diners can also visit the “all you can enjoy” mole and salad bars. Chef Donald Wressell of Guittard Chocolate Company will be demonstrating the fine art of chocolate sculpting.

Presented by the Kona Cacao Association (KCA), event proceeds benefit the “Equip the Kitchens” campaign for the future Hawaii Community College-Palamanui and a capital campaign to build a community kitchen at the Waldorf-inspired Kona Pacific Public Charter School in Kealakekua.

Farsheed Bonakdar, the President of the Kona Cacao Association and acclaimed chocolatier and pastry chef Donald Wressell of Guittard Chocolate Company join us with a tempting preview.

“My first cookbook, Aarti Paarti: An American Kitchen with an Indian Soul is a love letter to both the flavors of my youth as an Indian girl growing up in the Middle East…and the flavors that embrace me in my new home here in the States”

“I’ll walk you through 101 recipes, some simplified versions of Indian classics like Chicken Tikka Masala, Raita and Naan…and some that show you how to use these same Indian spices to create exciting spins on American favorites like Kebab Sliders with Tamarind Chutney, Masala Shrimp and Grits, and Lemon Indian Donuts (Gulab Jamun) with Chamomile-Cardamom Syrup.”

“Each recipe is accompanied by swoon-worthy photos by Matt Armendariz, as well as stories (and photos) from my childhood”

Aarti SequeiraFood Network’s Aarti Sequeira is our guest. She will be doing a cooking demo and book-signing at next weekend’s Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at USC on Saturday afternoon, April 18th at 2:00 p.m.

Chef Aarti’s first cookbook is Aarti Paarti – An American Kitchen with an Indian Soul. The foreword is by Food Network’s Ree Drummond of The Pioneer Woman Cooks fame.

This collection of Aarti’s memories and over 100 recipes will make cooking with traditional Indian and Middle Eastern flavors easy and fun for any reader. Wonderfully evocative stories at the beginning of each chapter relate how a woman who was an outsider experienced many cultures and cuisines. But it is the food in Aarti’s life that keeps her close to her roots as she explores new culinary and cultural destinations.

Andrew GruelFinally a chance to chat with our patient Guest Host Chef Andrew Gruel of Slapfish. He really knows seafood.

Chef Andrew will share some useful tips about selecting and preparing lobster. It’s easier to enjoy than its reputation. Chef Andrew will also advise us on what parts of the lobster are best for use in some familiar dishes. This is the continuation of a conversation Chef Andrew started last week.

Lobster Rolls are appearing on a lot of restaurant menus. Everyone, of course, has the “best.” Chef Andrew will give us some background on this delicacy. He grew up on the East Coast where this craveable sandwich originated.

Chef Andrew is the co-host of FYI’s new restaurant makeover series, “Say It To My Face!” It premiers Saturday night, May 9th.

Podcasts

Segment One: Show Preview with Guest Host Chef Andrew Gruel and Producer & Co-Host Andy Harris
Segment Two: Artisan Baker Dean Kim – “The Big Cheese” Competition
Segment Three: Karen Page – The Vegetarian Flavor Bible Part One
Segment Four: Karen Page – The Vegetarian Flavor Bible Part Two
Segment Five: Big Island Chocolate Festival
Segment Six: Food Network’s Chef Aarti Sequeira Part One
Segment Seven: Food Network’s Chef Aarti Sequeira Part Two
Segment Eight: Executive Chef Andrew Gruel, Slapfish