Mammoth Food and Wine 2014
Hey all!! Just so as you know, this year the Mammoth Food and Wine Fest is bigger and better than ever! Hopefully I will get to see many of you up there this year. If you've never been, Mammoth Lakes, CA is amazingly beautiful in the summer. (some say even nicer than the winter, but that is up for discussion). If you have never been, this is a perfect opportunity for a visit. There are many dining and housing options, and even the local brewery, Mammoth Brewing Company. AND the road
Mammoth Food & Wine Fest 2013
This year was the third annual Mammoth Lakes Food and Wine Fest. It's a charity for Education and Arts in the Eastern Sierra. And it is a lot of fun at 9000 feet above sea level. If you've never been up to Mammoth Lakes, the summer is just as fun as winter. You can actually climb all the hills and mountains that are normally covered in snow. There is even some snow left if you want to hike up and see some in July. I've actually skied on the 4th of July a few times there.
Ahhh,
Los Angeles Times Winner, Steakhouse Burger, 2013
As many of you may know, I am somewhat of a Burger fanatic; both cooking my own and going out for one. That is why people always ask me which Burgers in Los Angeles I love the most. That is a hard one to pick since I like many. As a matter of fact, I like nearly every Burger. And as much as I like other Burgers, I like some of mine of the best. There are many people who come from near and far for my Burgers when the call goes out that I'm grilling.
Which leads me to this post. For
Smoking Brisket
So you hear a lot of people this time of year always talking about "Smoking Meat".
Well I am here to tell you that it's quite easy to work on your smoking technique and turn out some fantastic meats. You want to get some good hard wood, obviously, to smoke anything. I have been using Mountain Mahogany that I acquire at Mahogany Smoked Meats in Bishop, CA http://www.smokedmeats.com/ . It imparts some nice flavor, but not too much that the smoke and wood flavor is all you taste.
EGGS
Seriously, who doesn't like eggs? I could eat them in any form, at any time. I have always been a big proponent of them, and add them to many dishes I cook. But nothing beats a simple egg scramble, a cup of coffee and the sports page my friends.
Now at this point in time I should point out that I am a fan of the real farm fresh eggs that are laid by hens who eat what they want, walk around a barnyard, and basically live like hens should. Not to get too political, but most
Cabbage Soup Diet
Yes, the reason no one has seen any check-ins, or food posts is that I was trying out the Cabbage Soup Diet/Cleanse http://www.cabbage-soup-diet.com/ Now for people who know me, and know my passion for cooking and eating, they might be taken aback by this revelation. Well rest assured it WAS only for seven days. And the thing that got me was that you actually get to eat. A lot of friends, especially in the film business have done other more radical cleanses that just don't appeal to me.
Iron Skillet Use
OK, if you are checking this out, I hope you are a proud owner of at least one Cast Iron Skillet. Hopefully you are lucky enough like myself to own at least one that your Grandmother owned. Because it's all about the seasoning. The more you use it, the better they get. Now I'm not going to go into use and care here in this post, I want to tell you about an amazingly simple delicious way to make mushrooms.
Now I use my Skillet for everything. The flavors of all your past dishes can all
Marin County Farms Pork Chops!
Well it's been ages since I had some spare time to update here. But don't be scared, as I have still been eating and drinking and cooking my face off. My regular job in the TV world has taken up too much time. But it is offering me many new oppurtunites to get me out of
that world and into food, wine and libations full time!
But in the meantime yesterday I cooked a mean bone in pork chop.
Normally I go to my buddy Nathan at http://www.mccallsmeatandfish.com/
Or too my other favorite
Pork Chop and Cous Cous
So my friend Nathan over at McCalls Meat and Fish got a whole pig last week, a whole delicious Heritage pig. A whole pig that he broke down and I was able to procure Two Pork Chops. Two amazingly fantastic Pork Chops.
I thought, as you should, if I am starting with an Uber Fantastic piece of meat, LET THE MEAT SPEAK! Don't get all fancy pants and make all kinds of sauces and reductions etc.....
The meat is the star! Let the meat sing. Let is talk to your taste-buds, with only a little
P5 Pork Burger!
So my P5 Pork Burger that I had entered in the LA Times Food Battle of the Burgers came in 15th place from the Facebook voting section. Of course it had nothing to do with the actual taste, so luckily had many good friends who kept me in the running. Now the Food lovers down at the Time Food Test Kitchen will try all the recipes of the top 20 and then move some of us on to be featured in their 4th of July Food Section Burger Special!
Here is the link to today's results.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/2011/06/well-there-goes-the-budget-for-the-la-times-test-kitchen-one-of-the-top-20-vote-getters-in-our-first-ever-battle-of-the-b.html
Basically
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