Eye Candy: The Final Touch

by jbfauthor on January 20, 2010

A crew member seasons a quince, completing a plate of foie gras and Sauternes sauce. Click here to see more photos from Kevin Penner and Matt Birnstill's Beard House dinner. (Photo by Joan Garvin)

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Recipe: Warm Oysters with Prosecco, Cauliflower, and Sorrel Soup

by jbfauthor on January 20, 2010

The indulgent pairing of oysters and Champagne is one that is often celebrated simply. But at tonight's Beard House dinner, Seattle chef Ethan Stowell will rearrange the duo into a luxurious soup, incorporating refreshing Prosecco, cauliflower, and bitter sorrel. Keep his simple recipe in mind for a low-key weekend dinner party. (If sorrel is not available, spinach or arugula make great substitutions.)

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Recipe: Jennifer McLagan's Perfect Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Sandwich

by jbfauthor on January 19, 2010

For our first Beard on Books of the year, we're tossing those healthy resolutions out the window and sitting at the feet of Jennifer McLagan, chef, food stylist, and fat advocate. She's discussing her latest book, Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes, which was named Cookbook of the Year at the 2009 James Beard Awards. Supported by common sense and science, McLagan comes to the defense of this unfairly maligned nutrient, persuasively arguing that fat is indispensable to a complete diet and full flavor. (Not that we ever needed to be convinced of the latter.) The book features recipes that get a boost from clever uses of oil, butter, or animal products. One of our favorites is her Perfect Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Sandwich: the

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Eat this Word: Geoduck

by jbfauthor on January 19, 2010

WHAT? Ugly duckling. "These are the most bizarre-looking of all clams (and perhaps all foods)," James Peterson writes in Fish & Shellfish of the geoduck, which makes its home in the Pacific Northwest. Waverly Root wasn't much kinder, describing it as a "clam so fat that it cannot close its shell." The bigger specimens of the world's largest burrowing clam weigh as much as 20 pounds, live as long as 150 years, and their neck, or siphon, extends by as much as three feet. They resemble…er…something not polite to write here. But odd-looking as they are, the geoduck has many admirers, culinary and otherwise. "Geoduck meat is delicious," Alan Davidson writes in The Oxford Companion to Food. The siphon meat is stirred into chowders and used for sushi; the body is sautéed. Asians pay as much as $30 per pound to dine on them, according to William Dietrich in the Seattle Times, who also explains that the name comes from the Nisqually Indian

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