Celebrity Chefs

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The World’s Most Innovative Chef

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Last year over 400,000 people asked from reservations at El Bulli, Ferr�n Adri�’s restaurant just outside Barcelona. I’m not sure how many actually got a table, but as the famous restaurant is only open 6 months of the year, it couldn’t have been all of them.

And its not surprising, because in 2006 it was awarded top position as the world’s best restaurant. “El Bulli” rose from 2nd to 1st postion this year in the “Restaurant Top 50”, booting The Fat Duck in England from the top of the prestigious list.

All this fuss is because of the “Salvador Dali of the kitchen”, culinary genius Ferr�n Adri� who has brought unexpected creativity to his food. His inventive use of “culinary foam” and “molecular gastronomy” and play on texture and flavour are what makes him an alchemist-chef (which is actually his goal), and one who definitely has a sense of humour and irony too.

Born in Spain in 1962, Ferran began as a dishwasher in the party isle of Ibiza, and laid his roots in traditional Spanish cooking. He joined El Bulli in 1982, and transformed it into an unknown eatery into what is now what gourmets call the best restaurant in the world with no less than 3 Michelin stars.

El Bulli opens from April to September each year, leaving Ferran to use the rest of his time to travel for inspiration, research and for experimenting and perfecting new ideas at his workshop in Barcelona, El Taller.

Originally posted on October 12, 2008 @ 8:05 am

The Essence of Emeril

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Bam! Kick it up a notch and Pork fat Rules! are just a few of the catch phrases of Emeril Lagasse. His light and fun style of hosting his TV shows has made him a very popular chef/host. He began with then new cable station, Food Network, in 1993 with the show “How to Boil Water”. Now he has two shows, “The Essence of Emeril” and “Emeril Live!” plus he is the food correspondent of “Good Morning America”.
Emeril Lagasse received a full scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music but his heart was in a different medium – Food. Not surprising since he began learning about cooking at a very young age from his mother. In his teens he worked in a Portuguese bakery till he went off to College at the Johnson and Wales University to earn his degree in the culinary arts. He was later awarded an honorary doctorate degree by his alma matter.

Emeril Lagasse traveled to France and polished his skills in French cuisine before coming home. He worked in fine restaurants in New York, Boston and Philadelphia before he moved to New Orleans to become the executive chef of the Commander’s Palace for eight years.

In 1990 he opened his first restaurant, Emeril’s, in New Orleans. The following year he was awarded the James Beard Award for Best Southeast chef. In 19920 he opened his second restaurant, Nola. He currently has nine restaurants in the United States situated in New Orleans, Miami, Orlando and Atlanta.

Aside from being a chef, restaurateur and TV personality and host Emeril Lagasse has authored 11 Cookbooks. The first was “New” New Orleans Cooking and the latest is Emerils Delmonico.

He also has a line of high quality stoneware with Wedgweood, a line of seasonal produce, lettuces and herbs with Pride fo San Juan and a line of clogs with Sanita clogs of Denmark.

He also established the Emeril Lagasse Foundation in 2002. Its mission is “inspire, mentor and enable all young people, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances, to realize their full potential as productive and creative individuals” . It is another dream fulfilled for him since he has always wanted to enrich children’s lives. Truly he kicks things up more than a notch.

Originally posted on October 20, 2008 @ 7:37 am

Meet Casey Thompson

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casey thompson

Remember Casey Thompson, one of the most promising contestants of Top Chef? Get to know more about her in this interview, done right before the chef showdown. She didn’t win, but we hope that she’ll be one of the female chefs to truly penetrate the male-bastion that is the culinary world.

Originally posted on September 29, 2008 @ 9:21 am

Gordon marked “PG”

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gordon ramsay

Gordon Ramsay’s video game of “Hell’s Kitchen” is due for a release — but the public was shocked at news that it would only be given a PG Rating.

The man swears, throws objects, and is generally called the culinary world’s potty mouth.
But apparently, he’s still tame compared to video games that have you slaughtering ogres and demons.

Originally posted on September 16, 2008 @ 7:24 pm