All About Alton Brown

Visit the new Alton Brown Fan site

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:11:00 +0000

This site will be primarily an archive now. For more up to date information about Alton Brown.
Please visit the new site at:

http://news.altonbrownfans.com

Happy 50th Alton Brown

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:02:00 +0000

A very good thing about having a just a written site is no one has to hear me sing Happy Birthday. But I do want to wish Alton Brown a very special birthday wish. I always wish him a good day for his birthday but this year it is even more special because his is turning 5o. I'm not sure if AB is keen on hitting the milestone or not but I do want to point out a few things to AB. So of this is being said completely as a fangirl (yes, occasionally I do lapse into one of those).

You may be 50 but are handsome as ever. In fact, I think you are even more handsome now :D
Smart, funny and quirky are never old
You're charming and gracious
No one on Food Network has your combination of talent and never will

I hope Alton has a great birthday and doesn't get to caught up in the number on the candles. He has been blessed to have a lot in his life. Especially a dream come true like getting to make Good Eats and I hope that he reflects on that and remembers that. PS: On Food Network's Facebook page they are asking what fans would make for AB's birthday. I said I would smoke some trout in my box smoker that's patterned off of his. A tomato pie because we're both Southerners (and tomatoes are in season) and a coconut cream pie. I hope he would enjoy that meal. :)

Who Knew

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Fri, 18 May 2012 18:42:00 +0000

It was excited to learn a few months ago, on Twitter, that Alton Brown is Whovian... while I was giddy. And just a recent as Monday, Alton tweeted about some things about favorite Doctors etc. Well, all of this, came together in an idea to give AB something Dr. Who related item.

Just about every time I see him, I bring a small gift. Usually just something as a little token of thanks. However, this time I had a major stroke of genius. Since I'm a knitter and one of his favorite Doctors is number 4, I just had to make a scarf. I've wanted to knit one for a few years but didn't really have a reason to do it--until now. So I headed over to a website that carefully recreated patterns from the show. I selected the original, season 12 version to make and began a 55 hour labor to make this 11 foot replica.

Keep reading and see AB with the scarf, go here!

Roundup

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:39:00 +0000

A few good news items for Alton Brown fans in the past few days. First, on Wednesday the annual Daytime Emmys were announced and Thanksgiving Live, hosted by Alton, is in the running.

Perhaps AB will get a much deserved Emmy, although would have been much better for Good Eats.

This morning, AB appeared on Good Morning America making banana's foster. If you missed it, the link is here: AB on GMA

Sunday will begin the next round of Food Network Star, which has never been a favorite show of mine. This year it's million times worse because I tried out for the show, didn't get picked to be on Alton's team. So, as with tradition, I will not be watching... sorry Alton.

Alton Brown and Food Network Star

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:18:00 +0000

Food Network Star, slated to begin May 13, features Alton Brown, Bobby Flay and Giada de Laurentiis "mentoring" the would-be stars to become the next be thing. Frankly, I'm sad to see this radical change in format because this time I decided to try-out for the program and it would have been the perfect match having Alton mentor me in person.

I have considered him my culinary mentor for 12 years and to have the opportunity to serve under his tutelage would have be one of my biggest dreams. Alas, I was not picked. Therefore, I highly doubt I will be watching other people getting to live my dream.

For those interested, here's the promo for the show:

ATTN: Buffalo, NY area Alton Brown fans

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 00:51:00 +0000

Alton Brown is coming to Buffalo State on Wednesday, April 11 at 7 p.m. for a talk at the Performing Arts Center at Rockwell Hall. AB will give his "10 Things About Food I Feel Pretty Sure About" lecture.

Tickets for Buffalo State students are $5 and go on sale Monday, March 26 (one student ticket per ID). Remaining tickets are $25 and go on sale April 4.

All tickets are available through the Performing Arts Center at Rockwell Hall box office: In person for students; online or at (716) 878-3005 for the general public.

Alton Brown and the Chocolate Farewell

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:21:00 +0000

As the cliche goes, all good things must come to an end and as Alton Brown fans learned Friday that goes for good eats as well. After 249 regular episodes, AB closed out the series with three one-hour specials, the last of these "Turn on the Dark" gave us a look into the luscious world of dark chocolate.

Using the hour-long format showcased what most Good Eats fans have come to expect from the show and its host over the twelve year run: history, science, information all in fun and easy to digest lessons.

It was hard not to notice a few of AB's lessons from the very first episode on chocolate, Art of Darkness, have changed. Most notably in the realm of making mousse. In the first show on chocolate we were introduced to an easy and wonderful mousse, which has served me (and others) quite well over the years. However, in the newest incarnation of chocolate, AB suggests to make the foamy delight using a nitrous oxide cream whipper. One knock on this part of the episode, he didn't give a lot on the specs for said device. Leading me to wonder if one NO2 whipper is as good as any other.

MORE!

Next Iron Chef recap and Alton Brown running silent

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:16:00 +0000

I was remiss in talking about Next Iron Chef last week. I was trying to launch my NaNoWriMo idea; however, that seems to be heading down the tubes this week. So to re-ignite my writing mojo, I thought about talking a little about Sunday night's installment of NIC and maybe a little from week one.

The second installment had the nine surviving chefs heading off to San Diego and the home the Major League Baseball team, Padres, to do a little ball park cooking. Honestly, the first challenge should've been who can look at Alton Brown and not laugh their ass off at his clothing choice for the day. I say this with great affection, AB the gray plaid sport coat, yellow slacks, navy blue polo shirt and light blue pocket square just didn't come together for me.

All giggles aside, the first challenge, to reinvent ballpark food seemed to be something fairly easy. I mean, traditional ballpark food isn't the best grub in town anyway so to elevate it wouldn't take much. But either its been too long since I've been to game, or the offerings of the minor league team here are behind the times, or these chefs had no clue what ballpark food is because I didn't understand most of their "reinventions."

It was bad enough to hear the new judge utter the word "foodgasm" last week. However this week's word was deconstructed. It seemed most of the chefs' concept of reinvent a dish was to deconstruct everything. I was beginning to think I was watching HGTV or DIY instead of Food Network with the number of times that word as bandied about. Ugh!

Continue reading

Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:37:00 +0000

In case anyone has noticed I haven't been keeping up with a lot of Alton Brown news here on this site of late. Mainly because I have taken the plunge with Wordpress and since I'm hosting my own site why not!

I have officially moved all of the news and posts to: http://news.altonbrownfans.com so this is where you can find me from now on. Also, if you subscribe to the site's RSS please update to http://feeds.feedburner.com/altonbrownfans/DQXc My twitter for the fansite is @_altonbrownfans

There is much to talk about with the visit to Pittsburgh on the tour but I have even neglected to write on that over on the new site. I do have video and will try to share soon.

Remember that Sunday starts a new season of Next Iron Chef. Alton will, of course, be hosting the show and annoying the chefs as per unusual. Gotta love that.

I will try to recap the episodes, however, I have doing my annual National Novel Writing Month challenge again this year so free time will be very limited. No promises!

Sometime in November the one-hour Thanksgiving Good Eats special will air. Still haven't a date on that. And the Saturday before Thanksgiving the Food Network will have a Turkey Day live show with AB as host. It will be from Noon until 2 p.m. EST. Viewers have the opportunity to submit questions ahead of time via Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/foodnetwork), Twitter (http://www.twiter.com/foodnetwork, use #FNThanksgiving) and can simultaneously submit questions during the broadcast with Skype. (Username: FoodNetworkThanksgiving).

For those of you who helped with the Heifer International fundraiser, THANKS SO MUCH! We were able to buy the cow for Alton and I gave him the card in Pittsburgh.

One last thing, I'm still wishing for an interview with Alton. Since he has changed is outlook on social media and the reasons he gave me in the past for not allowing an interview with me as no longer valid, my hope is he will see the value and benefit of this site and be ever so kind as to talk with me for an interview. After all, my site now ranks #1 in Google searches for him being an asshole and mean... so its not like no one is reading out there in cyberspace.

It's pretty funny that my site would get that ranking for these searches since I'm constantly bemoaning the fact AB seems to care more for the haters than the good folks like me. Maybe he thinks since I took the time to do this site I will always be in his corner, while the haters need to be shown the light. Who knows. It is beyond me. I still don't think he cares to read the site, which is very disheartening. I hoped he would at least change his outlook but judging from his retweeting of mean comments that goes much further than any act of kindness does. Maybe he's paying it backward?

Anyway, I'll leave you with the reminder of the new site: http://news.altonbrownfans.com

and NIC on Sunday.

See ya,

Lisa :)

Win a signed copy of Good Eats 3!

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:11:00 +0000

Last week when I saw Alton at his book signing in Sewickley, Penn., he asked me, "Don't you ever run out of these things?" He was referring to the fact that two weeks earlier I had my copy of Good Eats 3: The Later Years signed in Chattanooga, Tenn. So I promptly explained what happened, I didn't know there would be an early release of the book and I had an impulse buy! Anyway, I told AB one of the books came from his publisher for a giveaway and since I was coming to the event, why not get it signed as well. Alton was nice enough to sign the book for lucky person.

The contest is open until October, 19 at 11:59 pm EST. So now, to get this copy of GE3, click here!

A funny thing happened at the Serve and Protect event

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 17:17:00 +0000

Last Thursday's Serve and Protect event for the Tennessee Aquarium was my 13th Alton Brown event. Yeah, lucky 13. I'm not that superstitious, however after the whole summer of AB being on Twitter and crap with things there, and reason for writing and flack he received for the Fanifesto, I was a bit nervous attending this one.

The evening started off with an odd incident. I was in the Aquarium's office purchasing a copy of Good Eats 3 to beat the rush later at the gift shop and after securing said copy I turned to exit the room. At that moment, a group of people came through the room from the stairwell. As I turned, I almost ran into one them. Then I realized it was Jim, Alton's assistant. He stepped back and I stepped forward and at that moment I looked up to see none other than Mr. Brown looking right at me!

He looked a bit surprised. And I know I did as well. He said, "After you." I giggled and and said, "Are you sure you want me to go in front of you?" He tipped his head, extended his arm and said, "Yes ma'am." I giggled like a schoolgirl and went ahead of him and the group. As I thought about it, I wasn't certain if Alton didn't know me or was just surprised that we ran into each other in the office. I know I was extremely surprised.

FIND OUT THE REST HERE!

Attention Alton Brown fangirls and people interested in Next Iron Chef

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 17:09:00 +0000

I just found this publicity photo of Alton Brown for the Next Iron Chef, which debuts on October 30 at 9 p.m. EST on Food Network. While I'm strictly informing everyone of the upcoming series, I have to include a nice little photo of AB. According to a FN press release the first episode, entitled“Primal: Heat and Meat,” is described as:

In the much-anticipated season premiere of The Next Iron Chef, ten of the most respected chefs in the culinary world take a trip to the middle of nowhere, where their primal instincts are put to the test. Split into five teams, the chefs arrive to a bare bones set-up and supply depot, where they must create a makeshift cooking station and build a fire in order to whip up an Iron Chef worthy meal. Using only basic tools including cinder blocks, metal skewers, flat iron and stacks of wood, this challenge tests the resourcefulness of the contestants in extreme conditions. After a deliberation from the judges, the least successful duo battles it out in the first-ever Secret Ingredient Showdown. After a grueling challenge, only one of the two chefs will live to battle another day for the coveted Next Iron Chef title.

See the real reason I'm happy about the press kit by clicking here. :)

Alton Brown does not suck

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 17:18:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I had a wonderful idea to do something for Alton Brown to show him how much his fans appreciate his work, especially all of the years of Good Eats. Also, to wish him well on the new project. And now, to help him see the Internet can be used for good, not just bad things.

Figuring AB would rather for us to give back than to give to him, I surmised something to Heifer International would be great.

The best gift to give? Well, why not a heifer! Yes! A heifer to Heifer International to thank Alton for everything! Now, this where I need your help. A heifer costs $500. So if enough of us ban together then accumulating the amount would be simple.

Also, it would be great to tell Alton, in person, we got him a cow as a thank you present for the years of Good Eats and our appreication. If we could get the money before October 5, that would even more awesome because I could show him all of the folks who helped out. And have a thank you card with it!

Please give something to cause, a small thank you for anything you've learned thanks to Good Eats and AB.

Alton Brown swimming with sharks

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:03:00 +0000

Video of Alton Brown diving at the Tennessee Aquarium to launch the "Serve and Protect" project. I'm excited about heading down to Chattanooga for this event. From what AB says in this video, I hope to learn about new types of seafood critters to purchase and cook.

Alton Brown and Tennessee Aquarium's Serve and Protect Project

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 13:15:00 +0000

Alton Brown will help the Tennessee Aquarium with their new sustainable seafood endeavor later this fall. The "Serve and Protect" project will raise awareness and promote local and sustainable seafood choices.

At the main event on Sept. 22, Alton will conduct a demo with recipes he's developed for the project. Tickets for the event are $150, which includes the demo and a dinner. They are available at the Aquarium's website. To make your reservations, visit here.

Right on Q: The Review

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 20:39:00 +0000

It is only fitting, to me at least, that Alton Brown would chose to feature barbecue as topic for the first of the final one-hour long Good Eats specials. For me, if not watching that first episode on smoked salmon oh so many years ago I would have never ventured into the magical world that is barbecue. Therefore, as this long time fan sadly bids Good Eats adieu I am reminded of what AB and the show have given so many over the years--strong culinary know how, sound science and... you know the drill.

Working from his normal modus operandi, AB first told of the history and etymology of barbecue. Surprising how many ways it is used, noun, verb, adjective. And as all Good Eats fans should know, the method of cooking meat in this manner comes from the native people of the Caribbean and the Europeans "discovery" of the lands. When it comes to producing great barbecue as Alton said, it all comes down four basic things: heat, smoke, meat and time. Anyone who enjoys smoking meat knows how crucial time is to produce quality Q.

READ MORE

Good Eats 3 Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 19:04:00 +0000

For those Alton Brown fans champing at the bit for Good Eats 3 booktour dates, you will be happy to know that I have procured them!

It is an extensive tour this time, 21 cities and several weeks. So many. many of us will have the chance to meet AB and thank him for everything related to GE!

The complete list is over on the new Wordpress blog, so click away and see where and when AB will be visiting.

Complete GE3 Book Tour Dates

Your True Fans Love You, Alton!

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:27:00 +0000

I awoke to some extremely disconcerting tweets from Alton Brown this morning. Apparently a low-life bunglehole decided to create a Twitter account trying to pass itself (I'm using "it" because this scum is not worthy of being considered human) as AB's wife. In his replies back to this frog-toed nutjob, it was very clear the event rattled AB. Since the offender's account is now gone, there's not a trace of what was tweeted.

Not really knowing what happened overnight I,too, was just saddened and upset by AB's tweets to this creep. Immediately, my mothering instincts kicked in and I wanted to show AB support anyway I could. Right now, if he's off Twitter for good, then he won't see the good and supportive things many, many of his true and admiring fans have sent. I sent AB a virtual hug in one and this:

READ MORE

Alton Brown is Right on Q

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:21:00 +0000

Alton seems concerned we won't be watching the first of his one hour Good Eats specials. "Right on Q" airs this Saturday at 8 p.m. on Food Network, of course.

AB will be exploring the magical and mystical world of BBQ

Personally, I'm hoping for some kind of smoking rig to build, although I love my box smoker and it works so well.

Also, if your can't watch and have GE set on your TIVO's season pass, check it because mine didn't include this special in the regular run.

It’s Alton Brown’s birthday!

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 23:59:00 +0000

Of course early this morning I sent a tweet to Alton Brown to wish him a happy birthday today. In case you didn't know it his 49th. Forty-nine and looking fine :)

In the tweet I sent along a little virtual card as well. I had to include a cute little corgi for AB too.

Cook Smart vs Molecular Gastronomy

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 01:31:00 +0000

Odds are good if you've had any one of Alton Brown's cookbooks signed in recent years he has inscribe it with "cook smart." This simple, two-word phrase perfectly sums up AB's cooking philosophy, one he has propagated since 1999. Applying science and knowledge to how and why it effects food brings a better understanding to all who attempt the process of cooking. Needless to say, employing science in the kitchen and Alton are synonymous and no one on the Food Network is more identified with it.

With his science geek outlook on food and cooking, it apparently shocked those in the food writing world that Alton is not a fan of current and all the rage food science trend--molecular gastronomy. At the American Culinary Federation's national convention in Dallas last weekend, AB talked about salt for the crowd of professional cooks. During said demonstration the topic of molecular gastronomy arose only to be quickly put in its proper place by Alton.

The quote which stirred the cliched pot for many food writers and champions of molecular gastronomy, “My worry about molecular gastronomy, especially with young cooks, is that they will try to use it to replace knowing how to cook food,” had the likes of Eater and The Village Voice pointing fingers for AB's lack of embracing this type of science in cooking and his disdain of using falsely created foam sauces.

Read more

Alton Brown, Twitter and Burning Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:36:00 +0000

Like an old fire horse still answering the bell, sometimes no matter how we try to give up our favorite activities something always draws us back. Case in point, the site and me. A few days ago I was all but ready to give up, throw in the proverbial towel and just maintain the site for archival purposes.

A funny thing happened on the way to the archives.

First, Alton started tweeting me. No one was more surprised than I to see a reply from AB and lo and behold there it was last Friday along with several others in the past few days. So, that got me thinking about what else may change if I only hang in and keep up the fight? Maybe something wonderful will happen (like AB follows my Twitter account) or I may be setting myself up for a bigger fall, who knows. However, right now I have decided, while working on restructuring the overall site, I will write about a few things... if I have the time. Blogger's new interface still sucks by the way so I will be heading over to the new site for that, http://news.altonbrownfans.com.

Besides, how could I stop doing something that I love (writing about cooking?) and helping others with their Alton Brown information? Or give up seeing some of the new, exiting and belly laugh producing searches?

Judging from the recent keyword analysis of the site, I'm going to have a lot to play with (insert maniacal laugh) now that Alton is conversing with the masses. In his first few months of tweeting, AB has managed to influence the keyword search terms on the site from benign cooking and show related searches to some more interesting queries.

Many people are searching for him on Twitter, understandably. However, I have to laugh and roll my eyes at the number of folks trying to figure out why AB is deleting his tweets. "Alton Brown deleting tweets" seems to be a favorite phrase of late. Which begs the question, why is it so important that he deletes or not deletes them? Why the uproar? They are his tweets and he can do what he damn well pleases with them, bottom line. It maybe be unorthodoxed to remove tweets but when has Alton been mainstream in what he does? If he were, Good Eats would be another dump and stir cooking show.

Alright, tweet removal is one thing and kinda funny seeing folks getting their collective panties in a wad over 24 hours, 12 hours, or whatever length the tweets remain on his page. Even better, however, is the increase in searches about AB being mean, nasty, ass, and/or jerk (not the seasoning). Yeah, it seems the Twitterfied AB is rubbing some people the wrong way. But I do offer one word of advice to potential searchers: if you're going to try to find out about someone, and if you can't get their name correct, at least spell the insult right. This was by far the best term of the week:

Seeing that was just what I needed to start the day with a laugh. Maybe the person meant he's a complete ass. I joke, of course, AB.

Although it hasn't been easy for me with Alton tweeting (still confused as to why he blocked my accounts back in May) and he even seems to be weary of it at times, I will remain here in some capacity. Well, not here as in Blogger but here as in lending my support and blathering.

Dear Blogger, you suck plus Alton Brown info

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 14:44:00 +0000

Recently Blogger updated its interface to something that is not as user friendly with custom templates. Therefore, the old look of the site is not going to work any longer. All of that wonderful html coding and whatnot Blogger once allowed isn't available for the template I formerly used, so I have decided to revive the self-hosted Wordpress interface I started some time ago when debating the benefits of free versus free. Guess Blogger made that choice easier.

That site is: http//:news.altonbrownfans.com

As for a day-to-day updated posts like this site offered, I'm afraid that too will a thing of the past. In the few months Mr. Brown has been on Twitter, in addition to his updated site, I see no reason to write posts for news and information purposes. If you want news you can get it in real time with Mr. Brown, now.

In fact after everything that has transpired over the few months Mr. Brown has joined the Twitterverse had changed my outlook on many things regarding the site.. I had hoped all of the times I met Mr. Brown and our seemingly great interactions had gone a long way to build a great rapport, unfortunately that is not the current reality. He chose to block the fansite's old Twitter account along with my personal account for no reason. I never did anything but tweet questions and supportive statements to him, and replies to his tweets. Maybe someday I will get that answer to way he did it, who knows.

Today, however, he did reply to a tweet! So maybe not all is lost. The site's new handle is @altonbrown_fans

The most unfortunate thing for me not that he did this but that his new opinion colored his judgment toward the two fundraisers conducted here. I had hoped Mr. Brown would have sent a thank you to the readers who supported three causes near and dear to him. I'm a afraid, since the fundraiser was tainted by this site, he chose not to thank anyone who supported it. For that, I offer my deepest apology. My hope was he would send a personal thank you to be shared on site for those of you who supported the causes. Instead he chose not to thank you, the readers/his fans, for contributing. I am very sorry he didn't respond in anyway and I hope it was just an oversight on his part.

The old blog posts will remain for archival purposes, however, it will also be stored on the new blog as well. I am in the process of restructuring the overall fansite to include the old posts of how recipes turned out, show reviews, reports from events, etc. in their respective areas of the fansite. I want the information to remain for others to use and hope it will be of use to others. I may do write ups on some of the remaining recipes I want to try for the new blog, but I'm not making any promises about when that will start up again.

As for events, outside of Mr. Brown's October booktour for Good Eats 3, there is nothing currently scheduled so probably will not be including this type of news in any new incarnation of the blog. Again, I will retain the reports of previous events for others to read, along with photos and video from them.

By the way, the first of the three one-hour Good Eats specials, "Right on Q" airs Saturday, August 6.

I wish to thank everyone who read, commented, emailed, and helped build the site over the past three years. You guys are the best. Hope to catch ya around sometime in the future with the new version of the site.

oxoxo
Lisa

Let's give Alton Brown a great birthday present

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Fri, 27 May 2011 01:53:00 +0000

Alton Brown tweeted to today what he would like for his birthday this year...

His tweet got me thinking about how to help even more. Remember the little fundraiser we did for Monterey Bay and Heifer International? I was happy to report of the $300 we raised. So I thought, why not try to help out this cause for AB's birthday here too.

I've been wondering what to do with this site in light of the new developments with Alton and his social media forray. In my current poll a lot of you have said you enjoy the news and reports of his events. So, if you have ever enjoyed anything on this site or got anything, please donate. It will be great to have the wonderful readers and Alton's fans banning together to bring in another good amount of money for another worthy cause. This would mean a great deal to me as well as AB.

So here's what I want to do.

Donate what you can, but remember PayPal takes a percentage 2.9% + $0.30 USD here's a chart to figure in the fees if you would like to include that.

Then I will send the whole pot to Samaritans Purse from all of AB's fans for his birthday.

Update
As of June 13, the birthday fund raiser is complete.
We ended with $100 to donate to the organization for Alton's birthday. I have contacted them and am waiting to find the best method to send the money

Thanks to all who participated!

Alton Brown at Cooking for Solutions

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Thu, 26 May 2011 00:50:00 +0000

Last weekend Alton Brown did two demos for Monterey Bay Aquarium's Cooking for Solutions, while I couldn't travel cross-country to see the event, one loyal reader did (well from Seattle). Big thanks to Amy for her account of the demo and photos.

The talk itself was about Sustainable Seafood. For those that have seen the Good Eats episode “The Once and Future Fish”, it was similar. He got the audience involved with asking what Sustainable Seafood was, and talked a lot about the Seafood Watch app for smart phones that lets you know what seafood was on and off the watch list. He also explained about the word “organic”, and how it used to mean something important, but because the Government got involved, it became too expensive to get certified, and “organic” became a marketing term. Within the last couple of years, Sustainability has been a term that’s caught on, but in order for it not to become like the word “organic”, we have to educate the people. You don’t have to care about the bottom of the ocean (he says); just pick a fish, learn how to cook a fish, and do it because it tastes good.

The talk itself was probably only 15-20 minutes. (Authors note: He did go off subject for a minute when he talked about how he lost weight, and how people would come up to him and say “I hope you get better soon”, and “what’s the treatment like?” He told us that yes – he had lost too much weight at first but has gained some back.) The rest was spent doing the demo. The demo itself was going to be a marinade of swordfish and salmon, using the Blowhard 3000 in order to make it into jerky.

He got the audience involved again when he asked: “What is cooking?” and “What is a marinade, and how is it different from a brine?” He totally ranked on some 12 yr old kid about what cooking was – that was kind of funny. Someone in the audience thought that leaving the fish in the marinade for two hours would “cook” it, but they were probably thinking of ceviche, which isn’t exactly the same lol. He teased the lady about offering the marinated fish to eat, but then pulled back joking about the liability issues.

The best part was the banter between AB and his chef Tammy. Alton’s witty comebacks not only made me laugh, but made me slightly jealous. I love that he has a response for everything and that he can think on the fly. My favorite scene was when AB got “angry” and slammed the knife tip first into the cutting board – a plastic cutting board mind you, and it stuck. I loved being so close to the action because when he finished putting the fish into the filters and let the air blow into the room, it smelled wonderful!

The room had a nice setup with the Q&A after the demo. Not only were there microphones, but he had an iPad set up at the front of the room where people could email him questions. Someone asked about the difference between tank-raised fish and open pen-raised fish. The difference being that in a tank setting, the environment is controlled and therefore not only do the fish not escape (like the crawfish did in China) but the tanks filter the water and diseases don’t develop (and so the fish don’t need to be pumped full of antibiotics). Another good question was “What is your favorite beer?” His answer – “The next one!”. The last question of the day was one asked many times before, and if anyone has seen his Q&A’s, he gives the same answer. “Who is your favorite Iron Chef?” Yes, they are all precious snowflakes and good in their own, unique ways.

Swordfish or Salmon Jerky

Yield 8-10 ounces Jerky

1lb. Swordfish or Salmon fillet, skin on, pin bones removed

½ cup soy sauce

1 Tbsp. Molasses

1 Tbsp. Lemon juice, freshly squeezed

2 tsp. Black pepper, freshly ground

1 tsp. Liquid smoke

Place fish in freezer for 30-45 minutes, until firm but not frozen

Place soy sauce, molasses, lemon juice, black pepper and liquid smoke into a large ziptop bag, seal and shake to combine. Remove fish from freezer, slice off skin and cut into thin strips. Add strips to bag with marinade, reseal and allow to marinate for 2-3 hours.

Drain strips in a colander and pat dry on paper towels. Evenly distribute strips of fish onto two paper air-conditioning filters, laying strips across grooves. Stack two filters on top of each other and top with a third empty filter.

Lay a box fan on its side and place filters on top of it. Strap filters to fan with two bungee cords. Stand fan upright, plug in and set to high. Dry fish for 12-18 hours. If using a commercial dehydrator, follow manufacturer’s directions.

Once dry, store in a cool, dry place in an airtight container for 2-3 months.