The author wishes to acknowledge the works of those who inspired this one-as well as those the author just couldn"t have done it without.
Professional John and Matte Thorne: food writers (Outlaw Cook provided the spark for just about everything I"ve done); Shirley O. Corriher: food teacher and writer (her book provided the spark for just about everything I"ve done); Shirley O. Corriher: food teacher and writer (her book Cookwise Cookwise is the best of the last decade); Harold McGee: food-science deity (every time I thought I was breaking new ground, I found his footprints); Patrick Matecat: chef and darned fine teacher; New England Culinary Inst.i.tute: darned fine culinary school; Sother Teague: chef and brother in arms; Stacey Geary: editor (on my end); Marisa Bulzone: editor (Stewart, Tabori & Chang); Michael Kann: chef and writer; Athalie White: marketing manager; Paul Nuesslein: recipe tester; Eileen Opatut: Food Network program director-a wonderful client; Dana Popoff: producer of is the best of the last decade); Harold McGee: food-science deity (every time I thought I was breaking new ground, I found his footprints); Patrick Matecat: chef and darned fine teacher; New England Culinary Inst.i.tute: darned fine culinary school; Sother Teague: chef and brother in arms; Stacey Geary: editor (on my end); Marisa Bulzone: editor (Stewart, Tabori & Chang); Michael Kann: chef and writer; Athalie White: marketing manager; Paul Nuesslein: recipe tester; Eileen Opatut: Food Network program director-a wonderful client; Dana Popoff: producer of Good Eats Good Eats; Tamie Cook, culinary director of BeSquare Productions.
Personal DeAnna Brown: wife (behind every writer there"s...)/executive producer of Good Eats Good Eats; Zoey Brown: daughter/beacon of light; Matilda: dog; Steve Markey: friend since forever; Phyllis Sauls: Mom and recipe tester.
Random W. Shakespeare: dead but good writer; Coffee: beverage; k.n.o.b Creek Bourbon: ditto; Little Debbie Nutty Bars: delicious treat; Beef; Apple Computer: manufacturers of the Macintosh G4 powerbook on which book was written; Steely Dan: band/source of good vocabulary words; Airstream: makers of fine travel trailers and my office; All Clad Cookware: who have given me free stuff and lots of it; Lodge Manufacturing: sole keepers of the American cast-iron flame; Weber: makers of the best charcoal grill known to man; General Electric: most of the recipes herein were tested in and on their Profile gas range, a very reliable piece of ordnance indeed. Thanks to BMW and Triumph motorcycles for saving my life.
Alton Brown"s interest in the kitchen developed along with his more p.r.o.nounced interest in eating, a skill that Brown, now 44, pretty much has down pat. Although he worked in restaurants through high school and college, he never considered pursuing the dark arts professionally. Noooo, he wanted to be a big-time film director who made millions and got to boss a bunch of people around. Although he never actually made it to the movies, he did work as a cinematographer and commercial director for the better part of a decade. Then one fateful day he got it in his head to make a cooking show-a show that would blend wit with wisdom, history with pop culture, and science with common cooking sense. But of course, no one was interested because he really didn"t know how to cook. At the urging of his wife DeAnna, he attended New England Culinary Inst.i.tute and actually managed to graduate. After working in the restaurant trade for a short while, his wife, having grown weary of living on 20K a year, suggested that he get to writing that TV show he"d been talking about. He did. interest in the kitchen developed along with his more p.r.o.nounced interest in eating, a skill that Brown, now 44, pretty much has down pat. Although he worked in restaurants through high school and college, he never considered pursuing the dark arts professionally. Noooo, he wanted to be a big-time film director who made millions and got to boss a bunch of people around. Although he never actually made it to the movies, he did work as a cinematographer and commercial director for the better part of a decade. Then one fateful day he got it in his head to make a cooking show-a show that would blend wit with wisdom, history with pop culture, and science with common cooking sense. But of course, no one was interested because he really didn"t know how to cook. At the urging of his wife DeAnna, he attended New England Culinary Inst.i.tute and actually managed to graduate. After working in the restaurant trade for a short while, his wife, having grown weary of living on 20K a year, suggested that he get to writing that TV show he"d been talking about. He did.Good Eats is now in its eighth year on Food Network. TIME magazine recently named Good Eats Good Eats as one of the "6 Food Shows Worth Their Salt." It should be noted that the other Food Network show mentioned in the list was as one of the "6 Food Shows Worth Their Salt." It should be noted that the other Food Network show mentioned in the list was Iron Chef America Iron Chef America, on which Brown serves as host and commentator. Coincidence? Probably.Brown"s first book, I"m Just Here For The Food I"m Just Here For The Food, won the James Beard Foundation award for best reference book in 2003, although the n.o.bel committee ignored the significance of the work. Ditto Alton Brown"s Gear For Your Kitchen Alton Brown"s Gear For Your Kitchen, which was nominated for a Beard and an IACP Cookbook award in 2004. Certain that neither award would come through, Brown booked work on the west coast so as to not face the shame head-on.But 2004 wasn"t all bad. Bon Appet.i.t Bon Appet.i.t named him "cooking teacher of the year" in May and his article for that publication called "Thanksgiving Starts Here" was nominated for a 2004 National Magazine Award, which isn"t shabby when you consider the fact it was his first article. Brown"s third book, named him "cooking teacher of the year" in May and his article for that publication called "Thanksgiving Starts Here" was nominated for a 2004 National Magazine Award, which isn"t shabby when you consider the fact it was his first article. Brown"s third book, I"m Just Here for More Food I"m Just Here for More Food, was published. And of course 2004 was the year when Food Network began production of Iron Chef America Iron Chef America. Brown has emceed and served as lead commentator since the Food Network began production on their reincarnation of the much-loved j.a.panese game show in 2004. It"s a sweet gig, if he does say so himself.Then came Feasting On Asphalt Feasting On Asphalt, Brown"s 4-hour love letter to the American road...and food...and motorcycles. Although short, the show was Food Network"s huge, smash hit of the summer of 2006. (Although Brown doesn"t actually have any data to back this he feels pretty confident on the point.)Let"s see, what else...oh, while Be Square Productions (which Brown co-owns with the aforementioned wife) continues making Good Eats Good Eats, which Brown"s mother has called "the best little half hour of food on television," their other company, Food Simple, is starting to produce equally educational and entertaining media projects for the corporate sector.The Browns reside in Georgia, have a daughter in first grade, one dog, one cat, and three motorcycles. I could go on and on about motorcycles, the one thing that I . . . I mean, Brown loves even more than food, but that"s another show . . . I mean, book.
For more information on Alton Brown, visit visit www.altonbrown.com and and www.foodtv.com.
Published in 2006 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang An imprint of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
Copyright 2002, 2006 Be Square Productions
All ill.u.s.trations are based on sketches by Alton Brown. Ill.u.s.trations on pages 14-15, 18-19, 26, 29, 46-47, 58-59, 88, 97, 108-109, and 240-245 copyright 2002 Campbell Laird. Ill.u.s.trations on pages 19 (right), 39, 47 (bottom), 137, 169 (right), 173, 202, 256 -267 by Eric Cole. All other ill.u.s.trations by Allyson C. McFarlane, Branda E. Rasmussen, Galen Smith, Paul G. Wagner, and Jed Weinstein.
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
Edited by Marisa Bulzone and Trudi Bartow Designed by Galen Smith, Allyson C. McFarlane, and Nancy Leonard Graphic Production by Anet Sirna-Bruder
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Brown, Alton, 1962- I"m just here for the food : food + heat = cooking / Alton Brown.-Version 2.0.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-58479-559-9.
ISBN-10: 1-58479-559-X.
1. Cookery. I. t.i.tle.
TX651.B728 2006.
641.5-dc22 2006052584.
The text of this book was composed in New Century Schoolbook and Avenir
Printed in China
10 9 8 7 6.
ABRAMS.
THE ART OF BOOKS SINCE 949.
115 West 18th Street New York, NY 10011 www.hnabooks.com
1.
Followers of Horace Fletcher (1849-1919), American businessman and mastication promoter who believed that the secret to health lay in chewing each bite of food until no discernable ma.s.s remained. Fletcher himself claimed to chew every bite thirty-two times.
2.
Nineteenth-century foodie/philosopher whose 1822 The Spirit of Cookery The Spirit of Cookery kicks the pants off anything Brillat "you-are-what-you-eat" Savarin ever wrote. kicks the pants off anything Brillat "you-are-what-you-eat" Savarin ever wrote.
3.
a fancy French way of saying "good to go."
4.
Rock is a very slow conductor but it does get the job done. Several years ago, I was doing a poolside grilling demo at a nice home in Atlanta. I looked around for a place to fire up my chimney starter and settled on the middle of a wide gravel path that ran around the yard. So confident was I in the wisdom of my placement that I was quite shocked to return half an hour later to find that the heat radiated through 4 feet of gravel, melted a sprinkler line and set a railroad tie on fire. While I stood there marveling at the sight of thermodynamics at work, the soles of my sneakers melted.
5.
"With a grain of salt."-Pliny the Elder
6.
The life expectancy of the average j.a.panese female is eighty-three years; male, seventy-seven.
7.
Since the handles on cast-iron pans get almost as hot as the rest of the vessel, I strongly suggest turning the handle away from the edge of the stove, especially if children are about. (I"ve burned myself on the handle of a cast-iron pan half an hour after it came off the heat.) The density of iron at 293k = 7.86 g/mc3.
8.
Almost 85 percent of American families own a grill.