Gena's peachy bread pudding. Photo: Erica George Dines Photography
Part of a continuing summer series by grilling expert Gena Knox.
Growing up in Georgia, my summer jobs always revolved around produce. From the time I was eight years old, I worked selling boiled peanuts, silver queen corn and peaches on the side of the road.
Once I turned 16 and could drive, I began working at a local packing shed, Lane Packing, selling peaches and peach ice cream in their retail department. At the time, it was not air-conditioned, and you can only imagine how sweltering it was in July. I gave tours to Northerners, who were fascinated by the process of packing peaches, and was always entertained when I had to explain exactly what boiled peanuts were.
Needless to say, peaches were ample in our household and we never ran out of ways to cook with them. Fresh peaches not only pair well with grilled meats and seafood, they are also delicious simply grilled on their own.
Three of the state's top-producing peach farms are within a 15-mile radius of my hometown. Lane Packing Company, Taylor Orchards and Pearson Farm all produce top quality peaches, and you are missing out on the taste of summer if you don't order a box to enjoy yourself.
Get my Bourbon Peach Bread Pudding Recipe after the jump.
A Michael Jackson tribute in sushi. Photo: alainalele/flickr
Don't stop till you get enough!
It was only a matter of time, as our friends at Cake Wrecks pointed out, before the Michael Jackson cake tributes would start to roll in at neighborhood grocery stores. But it is the great state of Iowa that surprised us this week with the announcement that the State Fair would honor the King of Pop with a tribute in butter.
That's right, a Michael Jackson butter carving will sit in the 40-degree-F comfort of a cooler from Aug. 13-23, the Des Moines Register reports. Lori Chappell, the fair's marketing director, told the paper "we're just trying to pay tribute to his contribution to music and dance ... as opposed to giving any scrutiny of his life."
When I was a kid, ice cream was synonymous with summer. I had a trained ear and could pick out the perky chimes of the ice cream truck from miles away. Ice cream is a cool, satisfying summer treat, but a scoop a day can keep the bikini away.
Most people don't know that one pint of many commercial ice creams contains more fat than you should eat in a whole day. That doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy this calcium-rich treat. Making your own is immensely satisfying, and without having to worry about loading up on fat and calories while avoiding crazy preservatives that no one can pronounce.
Get Jennifer's Vanilla Bean Ice Cream recipe after the jump.
With the songs from "Thriller" playing nonstop on the radio this week, we've been daydreaming of the 1980s, when soda cans were pink (Tab) and the frozen treats were electric orange (Push-Ups). Our sister blog Lemondrop has been daydreaming of the decade too. What foods from that decade to you miss?
Fine dining isn't always so "fine." Sometimes that delicious meal is tainted by overcooked meat, still-frozen food, caterpillars nestled in the greens or other surprises that ruin a perfectly good dinner.
When bad luck strikes, you might want to cast a seething glare at your waiter or stamp your foot and throw a hissy fit, but if Miss Manners has taught us anything, it's that a little kindness can go a long way. The clip above outlines how to handle those unfortunate scenarios that necessitate replacement dishes. With a little tact and kindness, a friendly server should be happy to help.
Naturally, these tips tend to work best at upscale establishments. Complain at your own risk when dining at the local dive. Otherwise you might get an even less savory surprise.
Red, white and blue tartlet. Photo: Nicisme, Flickr
So it's nearly Independence Day weekend, and we're celebrating, too, by stepping away from the computer, throwing some shrimp on the barbie (or, OK, maybe burgers) and trying to find some local fruit as gorgeous as these snapped by Nicisme on Flickr. We'll be back in full posting mode on Monday.
Meantime, if you're anywhere near a farmers market that has any sort of berries right now, you'd be remiss to skip out on grabbing a few gorgeous berries like those shown above. Blueberries are snappy and sweet, strawberries seductively red and stone-fruit season is just around the corner. We're grateful for the holiday -- and for proximity to nature-made sweet treats like these.
The key to winning marathons might just be a stop at the Waffle House, if 1978 Boston Marathon winner Gayle Barron is to be believed. According to this Atlanta Journal-Constitution piece, the Atlanta woman discovered the chain best known for its fluffy waffles and late hours a decade ago after a session with her running group. WaHo, as it is known to devotees, discovered Barron's fandom and declared her their spokeswoman. She touts the tastiness and energy boost of her thrice-weekly fix of grilled chicken, hash browns and scrambled eggs.
A member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, Barron has won the Atlanta marathon five times and still runs 15 to 20 miles per week. And though a stickler might note these runs are not, er, waffle-powered (a nutritionist notes Barron's meal is heavy in protein), some might say this is a pleasant contrast to hardcore athletes who consume raw egg milkshakes and dry, so-called performance bars. Pass the syrup.
Doug Sohn, owner of Hot Doug's. Photo: William Couch/ Flickr.
Frankfurter maestro Doug Sohn, the man behind the beloved Chicago eatery Hot Doug's, is a stickler for putting the same care into his hot dog toppings that a top chef would a béarnaise sauce.
Sohn is a trained chef who bypassed life in a haute restaurant to grill haute dogs. He's been on the wiener beat for nearly a decade, and remains an undeterred champion of foie gras in the wake of a since-overturned Chicago-wide ban. His sought-after pups feature tantalizing names like the "mighty hot" Keira Knightley and the "mighty, might, mighty hot!" Salma Hayek andouille sausage.
A simplistic approach to ice cream. Photo: Sir Mildred Pierce
It's National Ice Cream month, and who -- the lactose-intolerant aside -- doesn't like ice cream?
Well, Southerners. America's favorite dessert is still a third-tier treat below the Mason-Dixon line, where cakes and puddings have a firm hold on the region's collective sweet tooth. Even in the most sweltering of Southern summers, New Englanders out-gorge their Southern neighbors. (Heck, New Englanders hang onto their ice cream eating edge straight through the winter, when their freezers are sometimes warmer than the air outside.)
Nobody's quite sure why Southerners never took to ice cream, although North Carolina food writer Sheri Castle confirms the phenomenon: "It's just not a big thing," she says. She suspects the relative paucity of milk cows might have contributed to ice cream's historical absence from the local food scene.
But a few serious ice cream makers are bent on tweaking the Southern tradition. Shops such as Ultimate Ice Cream in Asheville, N.C., and Morelli's in Atlanta are now providing a gentle -- and delicious -- introduction to the genre.
Thai and Caribbean Chicken Skewers. Photo: Debby De Heer
I'm sure several of you have been to at least one bridal shower in your lifetime, but I think I already need both hands to count all of the ones I've attended. Bridal showers usually include some sort of game, a specific time to open presents, an embarrassing hat made from bows and -- if you're lucky -- great food and (possibly) liquor!
While we all have outstanding memories of our own, I have to say the ladies who threw my shower this past month absolutely outdid themselves -- especially with the eats. OK, so there was a little pressure to provide good grub (I mean, I am a food writer), but what I didn't expect was a full-on display of one tantalizing bite after another.
A full menu and more tasty pictures after the jump.
Rice Cream Puddings offers customers puddings flavored with everything from coquito to rum raisin.
Writer Maricel E. Presilla writes about the Cuban memories evoked by sweet mangoes.
California's Brassfield winery traded rolling cattle fields for vineyards and grapes.
Northwest Miami-Dade is home to restaurants like Olivos, Thai Cafe and Taberna de Ignacio, while Hollywood boasts Exotic Bites, Cafe Italia and Orale Mexican.
La Cofradia adds "Ceviche Bar" to its name and revels in raw fish.
In this weekly series, home cook Bruce Watson works his way through a decades-old family cookbook, adapting the best recipes exclusively for Slashfood.
When my mother, who had been raised on kosher half-sour pickles, first tried bread-and-butters, she was immediately overwhelmed. For someone who was used to the tart flavor of Northeastern dills and half-sours, the Southern sweetness of the bread-and-butters were an absolute delight.
Through a combination of compliments and guile, she managed to get hold of our friend Millie's recipe. From that year on, we had a huge picklefest every summer, when we'd spend two or three days putting up bread-and-butter pickles.
While these are extremely sweet pickles, I have kept the recipe almost exactly the way my mom made it. This is partly due to the necessities of pickling, and partially due to a sense of tradition. Mostly, though, it's due to the fact that I regularly swap these pickles out for gherkins or sweet pickle relish.
Get the recipe for bread-and-butter pickles after the jump.
What you're looking at may very well be the platonic ideal of crab and corn chowder. Note the massive chunks of crab, the bounty of fat yellow kernels of corn and a creamy broth whose surface is speckled with little pools of chili oil. Made and photographed by Susan Filson of the appealingly named Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy, it looks like the perfect antidote to summer's swelter: If the dog days are getting you down, fight them off with a bit of crab.
We can change the way we make eggs -- scrambled, poached, fried -- but what about changing the eggs themselves? Mix up your scrambling routine with quail eggs.
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