The Food Seen

And we’re back! Here’s to the 2013 season of THE FOOD SEEN! For the first episode of the year, The New Potato, launched by sisters Laura and Danielle Kosann, is a food and lifestyle site covering some of the culinary world’s top tastes and trends. Interviews with industry luminaries like top chef Tom Colicchio, Vanity Fair’s EIC and restaurateur Graydon Carter, and designer Nake Berkus, on their ideal food days, their aesthetic palates, and all the tasty teasers that will forever have you looking for that new potato. This program has been brought to you by Whole Foods. “When you get people talking about food TV, you can potentially spark debate, which is great.” [15:10] — Laura Kosann on THE FOOD SEEN “Everybody loves food. It doesn’t matter who you are, so there’s this universality of it that’s really cool.” [24:20] — Danielle Kosann on THE FOOD SEEN

On the last THE FOOD SEEN of 2012, we welcome Todd Selby in our place. Best know for his blog, theselby.com, in which the photographer takes portraits in personal spaces, now has a tasty extension into the food world. His book, “Edible Selby” follows chefs like Chad Roberston of Tartine in SF, Susumu Kakinuma-San’s Neapolitan pizza in Tokyo, and Christophe Vasseur’s bakery Du Pain Et Des Idées in Paris, documenting their cooking lives. Found out how Todd learned to navigate the culinary scene, what he eats around the world, and the mountain man miso soup dish he cooks at home. This program has been sponsored by S. Wallace Edwards & Sons. “I think there’s a big cross over between fashion and food because they have so much to do with aesthetics at a certain level.” [21:10] “It’s not about pure luxury… fine dining is now about re-defining what it is to be a restaurant, and challenging you and themselves. And that’s what is exciting to me.” [30:50] — Todd Selby on THE FOOD SEEN

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, we wake up and smell the coffee with connoisseur James Freeman and sweets specialist Caitlin Williams Freeman. They are the affogato better known as Blue Bottle Coffee. In their book, The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee, you learn how to grow, source, roast, brew, and drink the best (coffee) bean you’ll ever have. Recipes ranging from stout coffee cake to sesame-absinthe cigars, and of course, an affogato with smoky almond ice cream. Also, hear about Caitlin’s upcoming book project, which came from the art-inspired pastry work she’s done at SF MOMA. Mondrian cake anyone? Most importantly, find out whether James is a pants on or pants off cappuccino drinker. This episode has been sponsored by S. Wallace Edwards & Sons. “There’s nothing about my work that is free form. If I’m developing recipes, I’m adding spices by the half-gram. My goal is to have it come out perfectly every time.” [14:30] — Caitlin Freeman on THE FOOD SEEN “I love simplicity of the pour over. It’s just so elementa

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, Scott Heimendinger, aka The Seattle Food Geek, brings the schools of science and cooking together via Modernist Cuisine at Home, a cookbook that will change the way you think about food. For Scott, a scientific background (IBM, Microsoft) combined with the chance encounter of a slow-poached sous-vide egg at Maria Hines’ Tilth restaurant, emulsified his past skill set with kitchen intrigue, guiding him to his latest job as, Director of Applied Research for Modernist Cuisine at The Cooking Lab. From the must have countertop tools and conventional cooking gear, to stocking up on a “Modernist” pantry, this episode will give you all the insight into the wonders of Wondra flour, how to fry the best chicken wings, making the meltiest cheese with sodium citrate, and will still have you craving for more of the over 400 recipes! This episode has been sponsored by Fairway Market. “It can’t be right because somebody said so or because that’s how its’ always been don.e The numbers need to add u

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, we’re charmed by soft spoken Basque ex-pat Aran Goyoaga, who’s talents as a food writer, photographer, and stylist, creatively coalesced on her wonderfully popular blog, Cannelle Et Vanille. Born to a family of farmers and pastry chefs, there were pinxtos, tortilla competitions, and txakoli abound, but during the birth of her first child, she was afflicted by a number of debilitating symptoms, later found out to be the effects of an extreme gluten intolerance. Aran’s premier cookbook “Small Plates Sweet Treats” is stunning, whimsical and mouth-watering, all with the use of alternative flours. Plus, hear us wax poetic about bacalao pil pil, a classic Spanish dish, proving that time and effort can transform simple ingredients into a most memorable morsel. This episode was sponsored by Fairway Market. “I learned a lot by watching my grandfather describe food, cook it, and cooking with my grandmother in a certain way… It’s [family] roots.” [7:50] “It [Cannelle Et Vanille] was never a m

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, Chef Matthew Lightner of Atera, forges nature and science, foraging inspiration from the land, and applying modern techniques to recreate it’s simplicity. A 15 course tasting menu, on a 13 seat bar or walnut slab table 5 top, next to a vertical garden “living wall” full of herbs and foliage, Matthew’s thoughtful cuisine questions our perception of what “farm to table” really means. This episode has been brought to you by Susty Party. “Technique, if you know how to execute it and you know it’s going to enhance the idea that you have, then it’s something you should try to do. But if it doesn’t, and you try to force it, you know it.” [12:00] — Matthew Lightner on THE FOOD SEEN

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, wilderness man Steven Rinella, hunts to live. Raised in the woods of Northern Michigan, Steven began fishing at 3, shot hist first squirrel at 10, and started commercially trapping muskrats as a preteen. In his new book, Meat Eater, Steven explores people’s long history as predators, and how the modern hunter’s role is perceived in America. This episode has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch. “This whole way of life is fading. It’s getting harder and harder to go bang on someone’s door and ask, ‘Hey, can I hunt on your property?’ People have one hundred reasons to not let you.” [5:00] “Trapping muskrats so that some woman in Italy, who I will never meet, can have a fur coat didn’t mean as much to me as hunting deer that I would use to feed myself.” [7:30] “One of the things that allowed humans to be one of the most widely distributed species on this earth is that we were able to go to really cold environments and be able to make a living killing meat. [24:05] — Steven Rinella on T

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, Jonathan Raduns of National Restaurant Consultants, and merchandisefood.com, tells us what he sees when he walks into your place of business. 80% of the information we receive is through our eyes. Hear how displays matter, what marketing strategies really work, and how to increase profitability via visual food merchandising. Or as they say in the biz, angle equals impact from the eye to thigh. This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch. “Some of these smaller convenience retailers are doing a better job that the large ones.” “We’re helping them stay in business on the number side of it through the way they present their offering to the general public.” [34:15] — Jonathan Raduns on THE FOOD SEEN

THE FOOD SEEN welcomes back Daniel Klein and Mirra Fine of The Perennial Plate, whom return to the states after the first leg of their Real World Food Tour, which will take them to the likes of Japan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, South Africa, Argentina … and if you already hunger for more like me, check out their facebook page for travel photos in Japan and China. They’ll be hosting a Season 3 release “Gaijinner” (“Western Guys Making Japanese Food”) dinner at Chef Brad McDonald’s Governor with guest Chef Sean Brock on Thursday, Oct 25th, 2012. More info and reservations… This program has been sponsored by S. Wallace Edwards & Sons. “A huge part of being a documentary filmmaker is bringing out these genuine moments. And it’s hard to capture those genuine moments when you don’t speak the language.” [3:15] — Daniel Klein on THE FOOD SEEN “When you go to a different country, you want to be polite, kind, and not invade people’s spaces. But at the same time, you kind of learn that you have to shoot until people tell

Hey ladies! On today’s episode of The Food Seen, Michael Harlan Turkell is joined by food writer Charlotte Druckman, author of Skirt Steak: Women Chefs on Standing the Heat and Staying in the Kitchen. In a book, full of interviews and POVs, Charlotte looks to survey an industry once dominated by her gender counterparts. Has the perception of these roles changed, or just come to heel? Ponder that and more on an insightful and gender themed episode of The Food Seen. This program was sponsored by Rolling Press. “I wanted to approach the topic [of women chefs] in a different way. It tends to get the same treatment every time and it’s kind of like banging your head against the wall. It’s time to stop looking at it as a biological argument. Everybody cooks differently – that’s what makes food interesting!” [03:06] “It’s an incredibly complicated time to be a professional cook in any sense. It’s gone from being a micro craft to a lifestyle concept.” [04:48] “People tend to assume when women say that they’re chefs t

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, a titan of the NW, Seattle chef Tom Douglas, brings his repertoire of restaurants, and over three decades of restaurateur-ing to the studio, which have earned such accolades as James Beard Foundation Award Best Chef in 1994 and Outstanding Restauranteur in 2012. Over a dozen restaurants; Lola, Palace Kitchen, Dahlia Lounge, Dahlia Bakery, Etta’s, Serious Pie Downtown & Serious Pie Westlake, Seatown, Brave Horse Tavern, Cuoco, Serious Biscuit, Ting Momo … range from seafood to Northern Italian to a Tibetan dumpling food truck. If that’s not enough, in 2005 Tom even bought the farm! … Prosser Farm that is. His cookbooks have also garnered him praise, Tom Douglas Seattle Kitchen won the JBFA Best American Cookbook in 2001. He’s also written Tom’s Big Dinners, I Love Crabcakes, and the soon to be released Dahlia Bakery. With all this, I have to admit I’m honored and in awe to have him on as a guest, since I owe my first radio appearance to Tom, as a guest on his Seattle Kitchen show,

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, Naomi Duguid has spent her life exhaustively traveling and documenting the greater part of Southeast Asia. Her cookbooks have introduced the true cuisines of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, greater China, and now Burma (aka Myanmar) Her latest tome, BURMA: Rivers of Flavor, explores SE Asia’s largest country, a rarely traversed region sitting at the crossroad of India and China. Waterways up and down the Irrawaddy river, a year round growing season, plentiful rice paddies, and deeply personal cooking full of crispy fried shallots, turmeric, banana flowers, dried shrimp powder, curries, culminate with simple yet sensational national dishes like Mohinga, rice noodles with fish broth usually eaten as breakfast. Get your flavor passport ready! This program has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch. “The word ‘steamed’ is not very appetizing to people when you think about meat… I don’t know where this notion of ‘bland’ comes from in in terms o

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, the man once known as “The Amateur Gourmet”, Adam Roberts, goes pro, learning “Secrets Of The Best Chefs”, and writes a cookbook therewith, sharing all the tips, techniques, and tricks of the trade. From chefs like Hugh Acheson, Alice Waters, Roy Choi, Nancy Silverton, Lidia Bastianich, Melissa Clark, Harold Dieterle, Anita Lo, Sara Moulton, Jose Andres, hear how Adam learned to properly dress a salad, bake a no-fail piecrust, make light and airy pasta, stir-fry in a wok, improve his knife skills, eliminate wasteful food practices, and even create a recipe of his own… This episode has been sponsored by Susty Party. “Having an audience helps a lot when you cook… When it’s for more than one person, you can justify it.” “When the food media started to notice me and embrace me, that’s when things changed for me. Up until this point, I was just this wacky and weird kid making food disasters in my kitchen!” “Everyone I cooked with for the book, I wanted to learn something specific from t

On today’s episode of The Food Seen, Jody Eddy traverses the earth for her new book, “Come In We’re Closed: An Invitation to Staff Meals at the World’s Best Restaurants”, including insight and recipes from restaurants like Ad Hoc, Mugaritz, The Fat Duck, McCrady’s, and Michel et Sebastian Bras. And oh yes, there’s fried chicken! From her wild (rice) upbringing in Minnesota, to her exploration of New Nordic Cuisine in Iceland, and now accustoming herself with foods of Senegal, where will Jody’s nomadic taste buds take her next? This program was sponsored by Hearst Ranch. “The more chefs that I talk to – the more conversations I have that lead back to culinary history. Anything that’s topical these days of course is rooted in history – and I love that connection we have to the past.” –cookbook author Jody Eddy on The Food Seen

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, author Eugenia Bone shares her revelations from the weird world of mushrooms in her book, Mycophilia. You’ll learn how to start foraging fungi through groups like the NY Mycological Society (of which she’s President), and how to best understand and respect it’s omnipresence. At an estimated 1.5 million species, fungi is second only to incests in it’s number and diversity, yet only 5% have been identified. It outnumbers plants by a ratio of 6:1, makes up 25% of the Earth’s biomass, and is the biggest single living organism at 2,220 acres in size, weighing over 6 tons, living in the Malheur National Forest in the Blue Mountains of Oregon. Fungi is not just a mushroom joke anymore. This program has been brought to you by Whole Foods. “Insects and fungi, in terms of diversity, are the dominant complex lifeforms.” “There’s never been a plant on land that hasn’t had a fungus living in it or on it.” — Eugenia Bone on THE FOOD SEEN

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, Heather Chontos sets a tableau way past the dinner table. A background in furniture design lead to prop styling and set design work for fashion magazines, her mise en scenes included walls of chairs 12 ft high, forks and spoons dipped in thick coats of paint, hanging torn lamp shades from trees in an airfield. Heather now curates a 120 acre plot of Big Sky Country aka Montana, which she calls “Milk Farm Road”. There she holds a monthly design event, featuring handmade and vintage items synchronized with online sales, all based around a thematic feast. Today’s program has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch. “The publishing industry has changed a lot. There is a huge focus on food, which I think that’s amazing, and I am very happy to be a part of it. But it’s not necessarily always in the most creative way as far as the mainstream publications go.” “Who just wants a white plate with lemons? It’s so boring!” “I really love to see what happens when people doodle and start to get comfortabl

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, all the way in from France, Claude Cabri aka “Miss Lunch”, comes to discuss Lunch in the Loft “Un déjeuner autrement á Paris – Another way of having lunch in Paris”. A worldly artist/cook, influenced by her Egyptian grandmother’s baklava and her South African grandfather’s biltong, Miss Lunch’s repertoire of culinary art ranges from leading market tours in Paris’ lively Marché d’Aligre and teaching cooking classes thereupon, to picking capers on the volcanic island of Pantelleria. Today’s episode has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch. “There are so many recipes. There are so many things you can play with! It’s the opportunity to have the time to make these recipes that’s really wonderful.” — Claude Cabri on THE FOOD SEEN

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, Charlie Baum, a generational lifer in the restaurant industry, and avid collector of museum-worthy vintage food & beverage memorabilia, recently co-founded Cool Culinaria as a place to display and disseminate such artworks. Fine prints and menus, spanning over the past 100 years, from Cafe Anglais in France (1890) to Steuben’s The Cave in Boston (50’s), The Oyster Loaf in SF (40’s), El Rancho in Las Vegas (’42), China Doll (’46), Rudy’s (’38), and Leon & Eddie’s (’42) all in NYC, Cool Culinaria is here to preserve our rich visual dining history. Today’s episode is sponsored by The International Culinary Center. “The quality of the physical menu is one level of impact on a diner. People several decades ago used to write their names in menus and take them home as souvenirs.” — Charlie Baum on THE FOOD SEEN

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, Jeff Gordinier, New York Times Dining Section staff writer, waxes poetic about food, searching for sandwiches with Keanu Reeves, learning cooking techniques from Jacques Pepin, holding court with Adam Gopnik in a banquet at Le Grenouille lamenting the days of great French dining, and reviving the classic Tournedos Rossini at the hands of master chef Andre Soltner, and talks about the revamped menus changes at wd~50 and Eleven Madison Park. This program was sponsored by Fairway Market. “I’m interested mostly in creative people – their process, their personality and what drives them. Frankly – the crazier, the better!” “There’s a certain pirate-like wildness that’s valued and accepted [in the food world.]” “Poets, in some ways, get at the essence of what the eating experience is about.” “I think we’ve seen a new wave of journalism in the past decade with blogs. I don’t always agree with or subscribe to the level of bitterness or bickering that happens on them, but nevertheless they ar

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, two photographers, Noah Fecks & Paul Wagtouicz, have taken it upon themselves to cook through 70 years and over 800 recipes of Gourmet magazine’s storied past, for their tasty blog, The Way We Ate. Hear Noah and Paul chronicle the times by cooking up meringues, sukiyaki, tostones, swedish coffee ring, spaghetti bolognese, strawberry chambord souffle, beer braised beef and onions, rosti swiss potato cake… Today’s program has been brought to you by White Oak Pastures. “The more the ingredients were from scratch, the more amazing it was.” “Our kitchen drawers are overflowing, but so are our brains” “There were things that we made ourselves that beat the pants off of anything we could buy.” — Noah Fecks on THE FOOD SEEN