New Good Eats Episode

Alton Brown cooks up some Buffalo wings in The Wing and I Wednesday night at 9:30PM! Don't forget to build your Steel Lotus steaming rig in preparation for the weekend!

Alton Brown's Steel Lotus

What's shiny, disc-shaped, and stacked on a thin column? No, it's not the Jetson's apartment complex, it's Alton Brown latest kitchen creation: a multi-tiered, non-unitasking, steamer basket. With a piece of threaded rod stock and a couple of stainless steel steamer baskets you too can create your own Steel Lotus! Plans for the three tiered steamer are on Alton's site. Heck, I could fit a six tier unit in the stock pot I use for corn!

His newest creation will be featured inlatest Good Eats episode, The Wing and I, airing Wednesday, January 30th and will be used for, you guessed it, chicken wings. This lead up to the Super Bowl will follow other party food shows like Dip Madness and Man Food. Maybe they'll break out the ol' Miller cardboard cutout of Alton Brown and we'll be all set of a long day of eating Sunday!

Monday Night Good Eats: True Brew IV and American Slicer

Monday night features True Brew IV and, if you missed it the other week, American Slicer. True Brew IV covers making chicken stock, which is a good foundation episode for any cook. American Slicer, however, falls a bit short on its task.

Slicer starts out promising to teach core knife skills, but becomes awkward and, in my opinion,
unfinished. Sure basic cutting techniques are there, slicing, chopping, chiffonade, etc., but key points are left out. For example, he doesn't cover anything about knife sharpening or shopping for a knife; though I did spot an Alton Angle in one scene. The awkwardness comes in two
varieties; the first is the poorvoice over quality in some of POV scenes where the tone of his voice and volume are off. He sounded either bored or annoyed in the voice overs . The second, as Lewis from Table Bread pointed out, is where the action comes to a halt and directs you to the Food Network website to find the recipes. It's not the information little intermissions with catchy music that Good Eats fans are used to and throws the flow out of whack. This show really could have been done as either an hour long episode or in two parts.

P.S. If you love to bake stop by Table Bread. Lewis has some great articles, and lots of baking action shots, over there.

New Alton Brown Book Due in April: Feasting on Asphalt: The River Run

Alton Brown has co-authored a book based on Feasting on Asphalt 2 with chef-turned-photographer Jean-Claude Dhien. Due to be released this coming April; it contains 208 pages including forty recipes and surely some great shots of the scenery encountered along the way.

Amazon is taking pre-orders at a 34% discount! Order yours today!

A bit of the description from Amazon:
"A companion to the six-part Food Network series airing in fall 2007, Feasting on Asphalt: The River Run is a travel diary, photo journal, and, of course, cookbook. Alton’s itinerary includes big-city eateries and small-town chat ’n’ chews, as well as markets, inns, ice cream parlors, museums, barbecue joints—and even an alligator farm."

Food Network and Alton Brown Agree to Three-Year Deal

After a little holiday break I am pleased to return with wonderful news for all the Alton Brown fans out there. Looks like Alton has signed on for another THREE YEARS at Food Network!

According to Food Network president, Brooke Johnson, "In 2008, he will produce new seasons of the popular Good Eats and Iron Chef America, as well as assorted specials. In addition, Brown will produce a new season of limited series Feasting on Asphalt, titled Feasting on Waves, premiering in summer 2008."

Feasting on Waves will feature the food and culture of the Caribbean. Not what I had expected for the next take on the Feasting series, but a welcome surprise. In fact, I just caught Down and Out in Paradise the other night. I forgot how good that special was! Anyhow, we'll probably hear more about it in the summer before it airs.