Celebrity Chefs

Iron Chefs

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Celebrity chefs often gain fame from having a television show. The term celebrity chef is often seen as derogatory by those chefs who eaned their title through school and hard work. As we all know, it takes a lot of sweat and practice to be a professional chef, cooking for many people none of whom are related to you.

The show Iron Chef gives the celebrity chefs a chance to prove that they aren’t just for show. Iron chef show began in Japan and a spin off was later made called Iron Chef America. In both shows, there are preselected Iron Chefs. These chefs are masters at their craft. In the US, The Iron Chefs are Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto (who was also an Iron Chef in the show in Japan) and the first female Iron Chef, Cat Cora.

Every week a challenger comes forward. These are chefs with good reputations theselves in the cooking field. They choose which Iron Chef with whom to do battle and then they are given a secret ingredient which they must use in all their dishes.

It is a tough battle with only 30 minutes to make a full course meal. It challenges each chefs creativity and ability to the limit. It is also a great show because it shows that no true chef works in the kitchen alone. He has to have a great team – who themselves are great in their respective areas.

The question is: whose cuisine will reign supreme?

Originally posted on February 10, 2007 @ 1:24 pm

It’s A Boy for Wolfgang Puck

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Christmas is the season for giving and receiving and Wolfgang Puck has certainly received a very nice gift this Christmas. He and fiancee Gelila Assefa welcomed their second son last December 18, 2006. They have named the baby Alexander Wolfgang Puck. He weighed 7 pounds and 3 ounces at birth.

Puck and Assefa now have two children together, both of them boys. They named their older child Oliver, who was born in July, 2005.

The Austrian chef also has two other children from his previous marriage to Barbara Lazaroff, his business partner. Again both of the children were boys.

Wolfgang Puck must feel like he’s on top of the world. A new son, loving family and business is going great. The latest addition to his restaurants, Cut, is so popular it is hard to get reservations to eat there!

There really isn’t much more that he can ask for. Now that’s a truly a great way to end the year.
[tags]Wolfgang Puck,baby,children,Cut,restaurant[/tags]

Originally posted on December 28, 2006 @ 7:36 pm

Gordon Ramsey Prepares Christmas Dinner In Afghanistan

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Gordon Ramsey has taken time out from his busy schedule and prepared Christmas dinner for 800 British soldiers stationed at Helmand province, Afghanistan. This truly was hell’s kitchen and by far one of the toughest challenges that this famous restaurateur has ever had to face.
The event was organized by the Daily Mirror. In his interview, Chef Ramsey said,

“It was well worth it to see the look on the guys’ faces when they came into the dining tent. It was absolutely brilliant. I’m only sorry I couldn’t do this for more of the men and women from the armed forces who are out here.”

Truly it made for a great christmas meal. If you can’t have your mother’s turkey at least you get a fantastic turkey feast courtesy of a world famous chef. Not bad at all for a christmas present. It makes being away from home at least a bit more palatable, even if only for one night.

[tags] Gordon Ramsey, Hell’s Kitchen,dinner,Christmas, turkey, soldiers, Afghanistan [/tags]

Originally posted on December 26, 2006 @ 8:57 pm

Anthony Bourdain Blogs About Some Celebrity Chefs

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Anthony Bourdain has been guest blogging on Ruhlman.com and recently wrote about the celebrity chefs on Food Network. Yes, he admits to watching the Food Network and laments at what it has become.

He praises Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay, Mario Batali and Giada de Laurentiis even as he mourns their truly awful shows. He points out that these chefs are successful business people, restaurateurs and chefs. They can all cook but the network does not make the most of their talent.

The chefs he does not praise are Rachael Ray, Sandra Lee and Paula Deen. As he points out, Rachael Ray announces that she can’t really cook and yet she beat out Giada de Laurentiis who truly can cook and indeed makes great meals. What is the network coming to?

He ends his entry with his dream Iron Chef match ups. The one I agree I would like to see is Marco Pierre White vs. Gordon Ramsey.

Check out his blog entry for yourself and see if you agree with his opinion.

Originally posted on February 12, 2007 @ 2:29 am

Wolfgang, Hep A and the Oscars Party

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It is the nightmare of everyone. You go out. You are having the time of your life at one of the most important functions of the year. Then someone barfs on you and ruins the mood. Worse, an advisory has come out that one of the caterers in Chef Puck’s team, who catered the party you went to, has been diagnosed with acute Hepatitis A. Health officials say though that Chef Puck’s team has been very cooperative and done their best to keep it from contaminating the food and their patrons.

There were hundreds of guests at the Oscars party, any number of whom may have gotten the disease. There are three other parties as well that may be affected since Chef Puck had helped prepare food for three other events that day, including the party for Sports Illustrated.

The instructions are simple. Anyone who was at a party that Chef Puck catered for needs to look back and recall if they ate any raw or uncooked food. If they were barfed on, they are also at risk. If either of these two things has happened to them then they need to go to their personal physician and have an immune globule shot.

Originally posted on February 28, 2007 @ 12:23 pm