FREE Recipes feature mexican themed dishes by Great Chefs: Bobby Flay, Mark Miller, and Zarela Martinez

The DVD Video features 7 Great Chefs: Zarela Martinez (Zarela/New York), Bobby Flay (Mesa Grill/New York), Mark Miller (Coyote Café/Santa Fe), Lynne Aronson (Lola/New York), and Mark Hollger (Santa Fe/New Orleans) prepare dishes with a Mexican flair, and show how to add a Mexican twist to familiar dishes. 1 hour

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Shrimp and Corn Tamales

Bobby Flay

Mesa Grill

New York NY

Tamales in real corn husks are cut open so their filling spreads onto the plates. Seared shrimp in garlic cream sauce with fresh corn kernels and cilantro are spooned over the filling, adding that “something extra.”

Serves 10

6 garlic cloves, roasted and peeled

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup dry white wine

2 cups heavy (whipping) cream

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

3/4 cup vegetable oil

40 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 cups fresh corn kernels

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

10 tamales in corn husks

In a sauce pan over high heat, combine the garlic, onion, and wine. Bring to a boil and cook until reduced by three-fourths in volume. Add the heavy cream and simmer 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer the sauce to a food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside.

In a large skillet over high heat, heat the olive oil and add the shrimp. Saute the shrimp 1 minute on each side. Reduce heat to medium and add the garlic cream sauce, corn, and cilantro. Stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To serve: Arrange 1 tamale on each serving plate. Cut off one end of the corn husk so that the masa is flowing out of the husk onto the plate. Spoon 4 shrimp and a generous portion of sauce over the tamale.

Loin of Lamb in Pueblo Flatbread with Chile Arbol Jus

Mark Miller

Red Sage

Washington DC

Mark Miller’s dishes always have authenticity. Here he wraps lamb loins in flatbread dough, wrapping mustard greens and goat cheese into the packets. He laces the plates with chile arbol jus, which combines lamb stock with the chilies.

Serves 4

Pueblo Flatbread

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 tablespoons chopped chives

1-1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano

1-1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

2-1/4 cups milk

Black Bean Spread

1-1/4 cups cooked black beans

1 teaspoon cumin seed, roasted and ground

1 teaspoon roasted ground Mexican oregano

1 canned chipotle chile in adobo

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Lamb Loin

2 fresh lamb loins

2 tablespoons New Mexican red chile powder

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2 tablespoons corn oil

2 cups mustard greens, washed and blanched

1 cup goat cheese

1 egg and 1 tablespoon milk, beaten together (egg wash)

Chile Arbol Jus

1 small onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 small young carrot, chopped

2 garlic cloves, roasted

1/2 cup red wine

4 cups lamb stock

4 sprigs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

3 arbol chiles, seeded

To prepare the bread dough: Combine all ingredients except the milk in a bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk. Mix by hand until the dough forms a ball. Cover and allow to rest 1/2 hour. Roll out on a floured surface to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Cut two rectangles large enough to wrap the lamb loins.

To prepare the black bean spread: Puree all ingredients except the salt and pepper in a food processor until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To prepare the lamb: Preheat the oven to 375 F. Season the lamb loins with the chile powder and salt and pepper to taste. Place half oil in a saute pan. When the oil is very hot, sear the lamb until well-browned on all sides, 1 to 2 minutes per side, adding more oil if necessary. Wrap the loins in the mustard greens. Spread the black bean puree down the center of each flatbread rectangle. Lay the lamb on top of the bean puree. Crumble goat cheese over the lamb and roll up the dough, securing all seams with the egg wash. Brush the tops and sides with the remaining egg wash. Bake until the dough is cooked and golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest 5 minutes.

To prepare the jus: In a sauce pot, lightly brown the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic. Add the wine and cook until reduced by two-thirds in volume. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer and reduce by one half in volume. Strain through a fine-meshed sieve and adjust seasoning with salt. Keep warm.

To serve: Divide each lamb roll in half and place one half on each warmed serving plate. Spoon Chile Arbol Jus over and around the lamb rolls.

Seafood Stew (Seafood with Coconut Water; Ariscos con Agua de Coco)

Zarela Martinez

Zarela

New York NY

This stew cooks very quickly, in under 8 minutes. Fresh seafood is simmered in salsa verde; coconut water and fish stock are added to finish the stew. Martinez says it is typical of many easy Mexican dishes cooked in a single pan.

Serves 4

1 coconut

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup salsa verde

1 cup fresh mint leaves, loosely packed and finely chopped after measuring

1/2 pound sea scallops

1/4 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

6 ounces salmon fillet, skinned and cut into 1-inch cubes

1/2 cup fish stock

Salt to taste

With an ice pick, pierce two of the “eyes” in the coconut. Drain the coconut water into a small bowl, then strain. (If there is not enough coconut water for 1 cup, add cold water to make 1 cup.)

Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium to high heat until bubbling. Add the salsa and chopped mint. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring often. Add the scallops, shrimp, and cubed salmon. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the coconut water and fish stock. Season with salt. Simmer, uncovered, just until the fish is cooked through and opaque, another 2 to 3 minutes. Serve immediately.

    Earth Day Recipes for Families

(Note: Upon request, we can provide a photo of Johnny jump-up, a surprise ingredient of the first recipe, and/or a photo of “Team Tusculum,”  the young children who grew the lettuce and helped invent the second recipe.  Please credit recipes and photos as shown, and contact Publicity@RedRockPress for photos or more info.)

Break out that jar of home preserves or relish—and never mind how you got it!  Home-grown is the right food to eat on Earth Day (Monday, April 22).

The good news is you still have time to plant your garden or window box and enjoy a bit of home-grown bounty this summer and beyond. Involve your kids in the sowing and reaping or take them to your local farmer’s market this weekend. Pick out something fresh to prep together for your Earth Day celebration.

Whatever your politics, you probably appreciate that getting your children to eat healthy  is the send-home  of Michelle Obama’s kitchen garden, according to Clara Silverstein, author of A WHITE HOUSE GARDEN COOKBOOK.   Ms. Silverstein went a step further, storing in her book both White House recipes and dozens of kid-approved  recipes gathered from children’s gardens across the country.

You  might want to try one of the two lettuce-wraps below this weekend.

The first , “Daniel and Annie’s Salad Wraps,” originated in the children’s section of the vast New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx and contains the surprise, optional ingredient of an edible wildflower.

The second recipe, “Lettuce Wrap Treats” is almost a dessert that  enfolds dried fruits and nuts and a dab of vanilla yogurt in lettuce grown by schoolchildren in rural Tennessee.

Daniel and Annie’s Salad Wraps

Serves 6

There’s more to the Bronx than city streets and subways roaring under them.  This borough of New York is home to a spectacular botanical garden, so large that a wide river runs through it.  There is also plenty of room for vegetable gardens.  Families and kids who plant in this Bronx garden also get to eat there—even some of the flowers.

6 lettuce leaves, plus 6 more for slicing

1 kohlrabi bulb or 1 cup shredded cabbage

5 radishes

6 scallions

6 mint or basil leaves (or more to taste)

Edible flowers, to garnish (such as Johnny jump-ups, chives or nasturtiums), optional

1. Wash and dry the lettuce leaves. Peel and slice the kohlrabi. Wash and dice the radishes. Wash the scallions, and cut off and discard the root ends.

2. Lay out 6 lettuce leaves on a countertop or a large plate. With scissors, cut the remaining 6 leaves into ribbons. Into each lettuce leaf, lay some kohlrabi and radishes, 1 scallion (cut it in half if it’s too long), and 1 mint or basil leaf. Roll it up. If necessary, pin closed with a toothpick. Garnish the top with edible flowers. Serve with your favorite dressing as a dip.

      —Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY.  Reprinted from A White House GardenCookbook by Clara Silverstein.

Lettuce Wrap Treats

Per single serving

Robin Schell, school garden coordinator of Rural Resources in Greeneville, TN (also home of the Andrew Johnson National Historic site), had a tough sales job when she suggested this recipe. The children weren’t sure they wanted to try something new, but since they grew the lettuce, they all agreed to take a bite. “In the end, nothing was left! They ate it all and have been asking when they can make it again,” she said. The combination of ingredients is sort of a Waldorf salad to go. Add and subtract to these ingredients according to what you like.

1 lettuce leaf

1 tablespoon each of any of the following: chopped apples, chopped celery, walnuts or pecans, raisins or dried cranberries

1 tablespoon vanilla yogurt

1. Pick the largest, most pliable lettuce leaves that you can find. Leaf lettuces work really well for this.

2. Rinse the lettuce leaves in cold water and pat dry between sheets of paper towels.

3. Add spoonfuls of chopped apples, chopped celery, walnuts or pecans, and raisins or dried cranberries in the center of the leaf. Each person can choose their own mix of ingredients.

4. Add a dollop of vanilla yogurt.

5. Fold the lettuce lengthwise over the toppings and then fold up the ends, like a burrito or little package. Pick up and eat!

—Tusculum View Elementary School afterschool program, Rural Resources, Greeneville, TN.   Reprinted from A White House Garden Cookbook by Clara Silverstein.

This morning, the United States was one of 24 countries to compete in the Bocuse d’Or competition, commonly referred to as the culinary Olympics. Having never placed higher than sixth, the goal was to hit the podium for the first time.

That didn’t happen, unfortunately, with a seventh place finish. Instead, Japan was the Cinderella story, taking third place in its first medal. After that, it was all about two traditional powers: Denmark took second and France took gold.

Held every two years in Lyon, France, this year’s team of Richard Rosendale and commis Corey Siegel has been rigorously training for the competition for months, if not years, including spending some time at the French Laundry last fall. Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud are the leaders and co-founders of the Bocuse d’Or USA movement, and the coaches are celebrated chefs as well: Gavin Kaysen, Gabriel Kreuther and Grant Achatz.

As noted earlier, Rosendale was a different sort of competitor as compared to prior American competitors, who were from top restaurants like Eleven Madison Park and the French Laundry (Timothy Hollingsworth, who placed sixth in 2009). Rosendale is a competition chef, a different breed. Add to the publicity and fundraising blitz that Team USA has been on in the past 12+ months, and this year’s competition came with loud levels of buzz and new heights of expectations.

The competition has two components: a fish plate and a meat platter.  Turbot and European Blue Lobster were the required primary ingredients for the former; Irish Beef was required for the latter.

Rosendale’s dishes were as follows:

Slowly Cooked Turbot with Virginia Ham and Tennessee Black Truffles; Lobster Mousse with Butternut Squash Cooked in Cider; “Mushroom Explosion”; Twice Baked Potato & Leek Cigar; Vin Jaune Emulsion

 

Hickory Grilled Beef Filet with Asparagus and Horseradish; Fried Hollandaise; Beef Oxtail “Yankee Pot Roast” with Spiced Red Wine Sauce; Potato Dumplings, Bone Marrow and Thyme Infused Beef Broth with Crispy Beef Filet; Slowly Roasted Carrots

See Team USA’s intricate meat platter here.

Other results: The UK won the meat prize, Norway won the fish prize and Hungary got the best poster prize. Here’s looking ahead to 2015.

Scrap the fantastical scene running through your head of carving the giant turkey at the table.

For fall-off-the-bone dark meat, succulent white meat and unparalleled gravy, cook the turkey in parts this year.

You lose the carving photo opp, but “the payoff is tremendous,” says Allen Sternweiler, the chef and owner of the recently opened Butcher and the Burger, 1021 W. Armitage.

You think restaurants do the Normal Rockwell thing and roast their turkeys whole? Nope. In the kitchens of the Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons Chicago, which combined will feed about 1,300 people on Thanksgiving, chefs break down the birds before cooking them, says spokeswoman Terri Hickey. It enables them to do all sorts of cheffy things, like debone the legs and thighs and turn them into a roulade.

The home cook need not get so fancy (and, in fact, could be spared from breaking down the turkey himself by buying turkey parts, or having the butcher break it down). The current issues of Cook’s Country and sister mag Cook’s Illustrated offer very manageable recipes, the former for turkey parts roasted a day in advance and reheated on Thanksgiving, the latter for braised turkey parts.

The logic of going piecemeal is simple: White meat cooks more quickly than dark meat on the whole bird, so when the breast is done, the legs aren’t quite. And when the legs are done, the breast is dry.

Even the Butterball sages, who year after year advocate a simple, open-pan, whole turkey roasting method but experiment with various techniques in the name of a better bird, are down with the cut-up-and-cook approach. This year, the assignment for Butterball test kitchen staffers was just that — to remove, stuff and roll the breast meat, and roast the rest of the parts separately.

“We’re also seeing that butterflied turkeys, turkeys cut in half — that’s an awesome way of cooking it,” says Mary Klingman, director of the Downers Grove-based Butterball Turkey Talk-Line.

One chef’s approach

Sternweiler has honed his method since 2002, the year he got married and the first time he ever cooked a turkey at home. It takes some effort. If the side dishes mean more to you than the starring protein, it may not be for you. Then again, it may just convert you.

You begin the day before the holiday. Home cooks with decent knife skills and a very sharp knife can start by cutting off the wings, legs and breast. Slather the legs, thighs and breast with salt, peppercorns, garlic, olive oil and herbs such as sage or thyme; let them sit in the refrigerator overnight. (Or, buy bone-in parts and, while you’re at it, ask the butcher for extra turkey bones or chicken bones.)

With the wings, neck, giblets, backbone and, if you’ve got them, extra bones, make stock. Put all the pieces in a pot with aromatics — celery, onion and carrot, but also whole heads of garlic, skins on and cut in half, mushroom stems, herb stems, bay leaves and peppercorns — and enough water to cover. Simmer away for 3 hours.

“You’re not going to extract any more out of those bones after 31/2 hours,” Sternweiler says. Strain, cool and refrigerate the stock.

On Thanksgiving morning, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Take the legs and breast out of the refrigerator and let them come to room temperature.

Brown the legs on the stovetop in a roasting pan with olive oil and butter. Remove them, then add a few handfuls of chopped carrots, celery and onion and a teaspoon of salt. After caramelizing for 15 minutes or so, deglaze with a bit of white wine.

Add the legs back in with the stock from the previous day. Bring to a simmer, cover and place in the oven to braise for, again, roughly 3 hours. (This is for a 16-pounder; figure a little less for a smaller bird, longer for a bigger bird, but really, there’s no need to worry about overcooking the leg meat.)

“Essentially, you’re making a double turkey stock,” Sternweiler says. And extremely tender leg meat.

Remove the legs and strain the stock, leaving a pile of mirepoix and just enough stock to slick the bottom of the pan. Turn the oven up to 350 degrees.

Lay the legs back down in the pan, skin side up, place the breast on top and roast for about 11/2 hours, or until the breast hits 155 degrees. It will reach 165 degrees, the target temperature, out of the oven, Sternweiler says.

Meanwhile, reduce the rest of the stock in a saucepan. Sternweiler likes to whisk in a few pats of butter and chopped parsley before serving. To go further, whisk some flour into buttermilk, then whisk that into the jus. Gravy, baby.

“Honestly, I don’t know how the hell you’re going to make a better gravy or au jus,” Sternweiler says.

Let the meat rest for 20 to 30 minutes before slicing, says Sternweiler. While you’re at it, add any accumulated juices from the resting turkey into the now-concentrated jus.

And if you still crave a camera-worthy moment? Carve the breast, now textbook-tender, at the table.

Click here to read this entire article on the Chicago Sun Times site!!

Looking for holiday cooking tips, techniques and culinary advice — plus a raft of great recipes? So were we. For this year’s holiday guide we tapped local chefs and restaurateurs for ideas and inspiration. We came up with a heaping helping of appetizers and desserts from Dish D’Lish diva Kathy Casey; memorable main courses from the chef-instructors at Seattle Culinary Academy at Seattle Central Community College; satisfying sides from contemporary Northwest cookbooks; and a sideboard of standbys from The Seattle Times files. See you in the kitchen!

Yes, we talked turkey

“My grandmother was a great Cajun cook, and her chicken stew would bring you to your knees,” recalls chef Kevin Davis, a Louisiana native. “But mawmaw always overcooked the turkey.” Turns out mawmaw didn’t have the right tool: a digital thermometer. Today, “there’s no reason to be without one,” says her grandson, owner of Seattle’s Blueacre Seafood and Steelhead Diner. “It takes the guesswork out of everything.”

Speaking of guesswork, “Don’t buy a frozen bird and thaw it out under running water at the last minute,” he says. “Insist on a fresh bird. Make a point to figure out where you’re going to get it, and order it ahead of time.” To stuff or not to stuff? If that is the question, “don’t bother,” Davis says. “By the time the stuffing reaches the proper temperature, the turkey’s overcooked” — just like mawmaw’s. Prepare your stuffing separately, and if you miss that baked-in-the-turkey flavor, “just take the drippings from your pan — that’s the essence — and add it to the stuffing.”

Got gravy?

“Nobody ever makes enough,” says Kathy Casey, who entertains aplenty at home and at Kathy Casey Food Studios in Ballard. “The gravy-boat comes around and you say, ‘Well, that’s enough for me!’ ” That’s why she stocks up on turkey legs, prepares a rich broth, makes a big batch of gravy and freezes it in advance. “Right before serving the turkey, add wine and the thawed gravy to your roasting-pan drippings and you’ll have mondo gravy!”

And don’t even think about tossing the carcass after you’ve sliced off extra meat, made sandwiches to-go and sent them home with your guests, Casey says. “Whack it up right away, add water and get the carcass going in a pot for turkey broth. Keep it simmering while you’re having cocktails or watching football, and when it’s done you’ll have a broth for a delicious soup — or for more gravy!”

Make it easy on yourself

Why fuss with a big bird and elaborate preparations when you’ve got other options?

Emily Crawford, chef at The Corson Building in Georgetown, sings praise for a braise. “I love a long-cooked leg of lamb or a shoulder. You can prepare it in advance and it’s even better the next day.” What to eat while the braise is warming? Canned food.

Don’t scoff, says Crawford, who regularly loots her larder for “snacky morsels.” Some of them homemade (like her pickled peppers), others store bought (“even Trader Joe’s has decent smoked oysters”). And there’s always her “go-to quickie,” a Portuguese-style tuna mousse:

“Take a pound of oil-packed albacore tuna; ¾ pound of unsalted butter; six anchovy fillets; the juice and zest of a lemon; and Aleppo, cayenne or red pepper flakes to taste. Whiz it together [in a food processor], season with salt and serve on crackers. It’s as simple as it is delicious.”

Don’t forget the fresh seafood

“Who doesn’t love a big display of Gulf shrimp, Dungeness crab or lobster?” asks chef Davis. And if you’re saying, “Yeah, but who can afford a display like that?” why not splurge instead on Northwest oysters? “I love shucking oysters at a holiday party,” he says. “It’s a great way to bring people together in the kitchen.” Buy small oysters, Davis suggests, the better to turn first-timers into oyster lovers. “Don’t drink and shuck,” says Davis. And don’t forget to wear a protective glove or hold the oysters in several thicknesses of a clean bar towel while shucking.

Bradley Dickinson, chef and co-owner of Pearl Bar & Dining in Bellevue, agrees that crab is a crowd pleaser. But unlike Davis, who cooks and cracks his own, Dickinson buys crabmeat by the tubful. In fact, he buys several, available at quality seafood counters. Seek out crab legs, not the picked-over parts, he says. “Put out some cocktail sauce, and you’ve got one less thing to worry about.”

Think like a professional

At home or in a restaurant kitchen, “planning and preparation is key,” Dickinson says. “It’s all about what you’re going to do two days out, one day out, that morning.” Make lists. Check them twice. Read recipes in advance.

And if you’re a novice, schools Kaspar Donier, chef/owner of Kaspars Special Events & Catering in Lower Queen Anne, “Don’t go out and buy Bon Appétit magazine, see their big feast and think you can get it right the first time.”

Consider space restrictions in the fridge, on the stove, in the oven. Make pies and casseroles the night before. Prep your ingredients in advance, chopping, mincing or blanching, then refrigerate them in lidded plastic containers.

And don’t forget to delegate. “Why do it all yourself?” Donier asks, plugging for a potluck. “Make one or two items and ask everyone else to bring the rest.”

Nancy Leson: 206-464-8838 or nleson@seattletimes.com

To read this article on the Seattle Times website click here!!

Lily Ko wants to go vegan, but please don’t push her to explain why. “I like to tell myself I care about animals,’’ Ko, 26, said on her maiden trip to Peace o’ Pie, a gourmet vegan pizza restaurant in Allston. “But I don’t know if I actually do yet.’’

Here’s what Ko, a research assistant from Quincy, does know: Eating meat is bad for the environment.

“But I don’t know where I got that from,’’ she said, looking at her boyfriend for backup. “Fast Food Nation’’? he suggested, naming the 2001 best-selling takedown of the fast food industry. “Health is a pretty big thing,’’ she added confidently, although a minute later, she turned wistful. “The other way is a lot more convenient. McDonald’s is open 24/7.’’

It’s too soon to declare that America is having a vegan moment. After all, a scant 1.5 percent of the population is vegetarian, at most, according to food researcher Harry Balzer, a senior vice president of the NPD Group, a market research company. And the number of vegetarians who take the no animal flesh diet that much further by shunning dairy and eggs, and sometimes honey or refined sugar, is simply too small to count, he said.

But you wouldn’t know that by looking at cultural indicators. Vegan cookbooks make the bestseller lists (Alicia Silverstone’s “The Kind Diet,’’ and the “Skinny Bitch’’ series). Vegan or anti-big farm documentaries such as “Food, Inc.,’’ “Forks Over Knives,’’ and “Farmageddon’’ grab high-profile attention. Former omnivore Bill Clinton considers himself vegan. So many CEOs have gone vegan (Twitter cofounder Biz Stone, casino magnate Steve Wynn, hip-hop pioneer Russell Simmons) that Businessweek identified a new group – “power vegans.’’

Ellen DeGeneres is a vegan, so are Natalie Portman (although she gave it up during her recent pregnancy), Bob Harper, the trainer on “The Biggest Loser,’’ and, rumor has it, even Alec Baldwin (yes, you can be a chubby vegan). In Boston, new vegan or vegan-vegetarian restaurants have opened in the past few years. There’s True Bistro and Pulse Cafe, both in Somerville, Red Lentil in Watertown, and Veggie Galaxy in Cambridge’s Central Square. Even non-vegetarian restaurants are starting to label some items “vegan.’’ A local image consultant, Ginger Burr, has added “vegan consultant’’ to her resume, and she hosts a monthly Internet vegan radio show, “Vegan and the Living Is Easy.’’ (The August guest was a vegan bodybuilder).

In perhaps the ultimate signs that veganism has arrived, there are vegan Groupons and vegan jokes on Twitter. “How to comfort a vegan after a breakup,’’ a recent tweet read. “Don’t worry, there’s more kelp in the sea.’’

To read the rest of this article click here!!

According to the latest edition of the Michelin guide, dining in New York got a little finer over the last year.

The city is now home to seven restaurants that earn the French dining guide’s three-star designation, its highest rating. Last year, the culinary guide said that five New York restaurants merited three stars.

Restaurateur Danny Meyer’s Eleven Madison Park, which has made dramatic changes to its menu under chef Daniel Humm, is arguably this year’s biggest winner, jumping from one to three stars in Michelin’s view. The new guide, to be released Wednesday, also bestowed three stars on Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, an 18-seat restaurant that is part of a Downtown Brooklyn grocery store. Chef’s Table was last year’s sleeper surprise when it earned two stars. Other restaurants in three-star territory include Daniel, Jean Georges, Le Bernardin, Per Se and Masa.

Now in its seventh edition in New York, the guide’s anonymous inspectors review hundreds of restaurants. This year 62 city restaurants received stars, up from 57 last year. The guide is closely watched by chefs and food-world insiders. While chefs frequently grumble about the guide’s sometimes arbitrary designations, celebrations nearly always ensue when a restaurant receives a star.

Cesar Ramirez, chef at Brooklyn Fare, was still in disbelief when reached by The Journal Tuesday. “We really put all our hearts and souls into it and to do it right, to cook the best things with the best ingredients and the best techniques and really to do it very simply and very minimalist with a lot of care and love,” he said. “Never in my wildest dreams would I believe that this would happen. I think it’s a great thing for Brooklyn.”

Other notable winners this year are L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon and SHO Shaun Hergatt both of which rose from single to two-star status. A number of ethnic restaurants received stars for the first time, including a trio of fine-dining Indian restaurants: Junoon and Tulsi, which opened last year, and Tamarind Tribeca. Japanese restaurants – which have long had a strong showing – earning one star included David Bouley’s Brushstroke and Tori Shin and Rosanjin. Danji, a new, modern Korean restaurant, received one star, as did Heartbreak, an East Village eatery that highlights dishes from Continental Europe.

The only losers were Picholine, which lost one of its two stars, and Shalezeh, a Persian restaurant on the Upper East Side, which lost its sole star.

Click here to view this article on the Wall Street Journal website!!

THERE are white-meat people and there are dark-meat people; there are those who swear by the drumstick, thigh or breast.

And then there are skin people. They are the ones who cannot help themselves around roast or fried chicken, ripping off the crispiest bits of skin before the bird makes it to the table.

Nate Gutierrez, the chef and owner of Nate’s Taco Truck and Nate’s Taco Truck Stop in Richmond, Va., could not stop snacking on the skin left over from his roast chickens. So about six months ago, he decided to make the skin crisp on the flattop and offer it in a taco. The chicken-skin tacos sell out whenever they are on the menu.

By using chicken skin for its texture and powerful flavor in all sorts of dishes, chefs are legitimizing what used to be a guilty pleasure, whether they call it gribenes, yakitori kawa or cracklings.

There is no more-committed evangelist than Sean Brock, executive chef of Husk and McCrady’s in Charleston, S.C. If it can be done in the kitchen, Mr. Brock has done it to chicken skin: He marinates it in buttermilk, then smokes and deep fries for a crunchy appetizer served with hot sauce and honey. He layers it with rabbit in a terrine. His twist on Southern chicken and dumplings includes a block of braised shredded chicken thighs sandwiched between rendered sheets of the stuff.

“Everyone knows deep down that they are closet chicken-skin lovers,” he said. “They just need some help.”

The appetite for chicken skin is a logical outgrowth of fried chicken mania and the fashion for over-the-top foods. Last year, in the aftermath of the KFC Double Down sandwich, a rumor that the chain was testing a “skinwich” flew around the Internet. The rumor was met with disgust and excitement before it was proved to be false.

But the skinwich seems practically restrained next to an invention by Jesse Schenker, the chef and owner of Recette in the West Village: deep-fried, chicken-skin-wrapped gravy, a crunchy parcel with a molten interior. The dish, served with roast foie gras and a black pepper biscuit, is one of the richest in New York and is the only item on Recette’s menu that routinely elicits loud, happy cursing.

“If it weren’t so time-consuming, I’d offer it as the ultimate bar snack, 10 to an order,” he said.

One frustration inherent in cooking with chicken skin is shrinkage. When you render the fat from a piece of skin, it shrivels to about half its size, so you need a lot of it. Most chefs buy it in bulk from distributors when possible. It can be tricky to find a steady supply because the skins left over from chicken processing, like that from the boneless, skinless breasts that dominate the market, usually go into products like chicken sausages and nuggets, or are rendered for animal feed.

Steve Gold, vice president for sales and marketing at Murray’s Chicken, said that he always receives a spike in requests for chicken skin around this time of year, from cooks planning to make gribenes (chicken cracklings) for the Jewish holidays. But he said bulk orders for skins from chefs have increased to two or three a week from near zero a year ago. (Among those chefs is Mr. Schenker of Recette, who buys Murray’s chicken skin through the distributor Endicott Meats.)

“A year ago it wasn’t even on our map,” Mr. Gold said. “We would have thought a chef was crazy.”

Retail sources for skins are harder to come by, at least for the moment, and most home cooks will find it easiest to buy skin-on chicken and reserve the meat for another use.

Even with the advantage of buying in bulk, Hugue Dufour, who was the chef and an owner of M. Wells in Queens, said it was a hard ingredient to manage. “It was difficult to get enough skins to keep up,” he said, speaking of dishes like chicken-fried chicken skins and a chicken soup in which slippery skins stood in for noodles.

There’s nothing new about eating chicken skin. Just about any region that customarily eats chicken has a way to use up the skin.

In Japan, and in Japanese restaurants like Yakitori Totto in Midtown and Yakitori Tori Shin on the Upper East Side, one of the most popular kinds of yakitori is grilled chicken skin, often accordioned onto a skewer and grilled until crisp-edged.

Deep-fried chicken skin is a favorite snack in certain parts of the Philippines, where it’s called chicharon manok. Maharlika, a new Filipino restaurant in the East Village, serves chicharon manok with spiced sugar cane vinegar as a free pre-dinner treat until they run out of it (they do most nights). Nicole Ponseca, an owner of Maharlika, said the restaurant’s dish is a strictly traditional version of the snack, which she grew up eating while playing mah-jongg with her family.

In European Jewish cooking, chopped liver is often served with gribenes; at Sammy’s Roumanian on the Lower East Side, the classic chopped liver and gribenes has been on the menu since the restaurant opened in 1975.

But chefs like Ilan Hall, who were exposed to traditional preparations as children, spin the ingredient in directions that their grandparents wouldn’t have imagined.

One of Mr. Hall’s signature dishes at the Gorbals, his restaurant in Los Angeles, is a take on a B.L.T.: a gribenes, lettuce and tomato sandwich, served on rye with horseradish mayo. “Fallen Jews love the G.L.T.,” he said. “Because it’s funny. Familiar, but taken out of its element.”

Mitch Prensky, a chef in Philadelphia, also grew up eating gribenes and likes to try unusual uses at his restaurant, Supper. He puts chicken skin in his spaghetti carbonara, cures and smokes it like pastrami for Reuben sandwiches and crisps it into tuile-like garnishes for summer salads.

“It’s the Jewish bacon,” Mr. Prensky said.

But even chefs like Marc Forgione, who uses chicken skin as a delicate wrapper for monkfish at the restaurant in TriBeCa that bears his name, resists the inevitable comparison.

“If I could marry bacon, I would,” he said.

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