As you may have read in my Top Ten Highlights from the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, one of the most entertaining parts of the trip was a demo by Tim Love, called High Steaks Grilling.In addition to some very funny anecdotes, and grilling war stories (including oil shot roulette, video below), Love mixed in quite a few valuable tips and techniques, which I'd love to share.
Those Fourth of July cookouts are just around the corner, so the timing is right for a little advice from Texas' top chef.
- Don't use olive oil on steaks before grilling. Love says the oil burns easily and gets bitter. He suggests using peanut oil or other vegetable oil with a high smoke point. Love was wearing a bright orange shirt during the demo, which he joked was a tribute to his friend, and lover of olive oil, Mario Batali.
The meat should not be ice cold. Allow your steaks to sit out at room temperature to take the chill off. This allows for even cooking.
- Love says to always salt the meat before grilling to create a flavorful crust. His rule of thumb for home cooks is to salt the meat twice as much as you think is needed.
- When cooking for a larger group, Love suggests grilling the steaks ahead of time. Once they're cooked medium-rare, they can be held on trays at room temperature for several hours. When needed, simply reheat on the upper rack of the grill, or in a 400 degrees F. oven until hot.
- Once the steaks are ready to serve, Love suggests a little bit of acid, like a drizzle of lemon or splash of vinegar, which combines with the melted fat in the grilled meat to create a sort of vinaigrette effect, or as the chef called it, a "meat salad."
- Carefully check the marbling of steaks in the meat case, since its grade may not necessarily be accurate. Love explained that just because a steak is labeled "Prime," doesn't mean it is. When inspectors grade beef, they only evaluate the rib eye between the 12th and 13th rib. Whatever grade that section gets, every other cut on the steer get.
- For a change of pace, try skirt steak. Love says, if not over-cooked, it's easily the juiciest and most flavorful cut on the steer.
- And, of course, it wouldn't be a grilling tips list without the obligatory, "Never cut into a steak unless it has rested." Five to ten minutes seems to be the accepted standard for patience.
Like the Chef in the Clip Says, "There Ain't No Party Like a Tim Love Party!"
Below you'll see a brief video I shot at the end of the demo. If you don't know the story already, you can read a detailed account here, but long story short, last year Tim Love was accidentally served a shot glass of canola oil.
As he retold the story, without embellishment (this story needs none), he explained that the show would end with a round of oil shot roulette. In the fridge he had five shots of Patron tequila, and one shot of oil. Six volunteers were to be selected, blindfolded, and "randomly" handed the glasses. On the count of three, they would have to drink the shots.After Love delicately explained the possible side effects of such a contest, he also revealed the "loser" would get a swag bag. Every loves a nice swag bag, and six contestants were soon assembled in front of the buzzing crowd.
Here are the results. You'll have to pardon the shaky camera, as I find it very hard to hold it still while belly laughing. Enjoy!
Last week I found a used copy of 
Argentina [ 
and raw red onion. The heart that misses 
United States 
Ohio
. Have you read it? Harriet- the anti-heroine- helped change my life back in the Dark Ages. It was 1964 and girls were expected to giggle and take ballet and dream of party dresses. We were encouraged to walk with books on our heads to cultivate a ladylike gait, and practice buttoning the baby teeth pearls on our slim white gloves with nimble, dainty fingers. 
, scribbled down stories and drew pictures. I created a world. It was my book of secrets. 
I 
I hope you enjoyed part one of my ten highlights from the 
Including this special luncheon hosted by Stella Artois was a no-brainer. It featured venerable New Orleans chef, John Besh, who cooked a six-course crawfish menu, which was paired with three Belgium brews by Master Beer Sommelier, Marc Stroobandt. Come on, do the math. How was that not going to be awesome? And awesome it was.
Some of my favorites included an amuse of crawfish boil "en gelee," served in an eggshell, a fried softshell-crawfish take on a Vietnamese bánh mì sandwich, and a stellar crawfish bisque garnished with stuffed crawfish heads. I really could just list the entire menu as a highlight - everything was fantastic.
Each table sported a big bucket of ice, into which were nestled bottles of Stella Artois, Lefe, and Hoegaarden. As Besh talked tail, Stroobrandt circled the room, making pairing suggestions, and doing what he called "beer magic tricks." Things like taking a spoonful of the foamy head to taste the bitter hops, then sipping the beer directly afterward to accentuate the sweetness of the malt. It was just like regular magic, only not useless.
By the way, did you know that hops are a powerful appetite stimulant? So, at the risk of sounding like Homer Simpson (having the same hair is bad enough), may I suggest a few bottles of beer as an appetizer at your next dinner party? And, if you can swing it, see if you can get John Besh to drop by and cook up some crawfish.
I knew former Top Chef favorite Fabio Viviani was charismatic, and easy on the eyes, but could he cook? The answer is an unequivocal, yes. I was invited to an early morning, private demo sponsored by Bertolli, where he prepared a delicious and beautiful plate of food, while explaining the proper use of three different types of olive oil.
He did a seared beef tenderloin with pan-roasted cherry tomatoes and scallions, served with a feta avocado salad. He used a light olive oil to sear the meat, a regular olive oil to do the tomatoes and onions, and a fruity, extra-virgin olive oil to finish the salad and dress the plate. It was simple, rustic cooking at its best.
In a tradition started last year, I will reserve one spot in this top ten list for a non-food entry. What better inaugural choice than the reserve wine tasting I attended featuring this great Italian wine? Antinori Tignanello is Tuscany's most famous wine, and led by wine guru Richard Betts, we tasted nine different vintages.
Making the event even more special, we were joined by Alessia Antinori, who shared insights into her family's four-decade-long history making this "super Tuscan." I was completely captivated listening to her and the panel explain why the different vintages tasted the way they did.
This event's signature characteristic is the colorful give and take between host Sissy Biggers, the contestants, and the judges' table, which included the articulate and charming Gail Simmons, and cantankerous, quick-witted Tom Colicchio. They were joined by Jacques Pepin, and 
In case you're scoring at home, Rick Bayless won a narrow victory with a warm lobster and potato salad, topped with roasted tomatillo salsa. Voltaggio made an equally delicious looking platter of seared lamb loin and olive butter, garnished with eggplant crostini topped with tomato seed "caviar."
Chef Colicchio was in rare form. As Baylass was just about to kill his lobster, Colicchio wondered out loud if it was a father. When Jacques Pepin joked about trying a little liquid nitrogen to liven things up in the bedroom (much to the horror of daughter, Claudine), Tom shot back with, "Jacques, it's not a preservative." How do you say, "Snap!" in French?
My Food & Wine Classic weekend ended in a climax of porky goodness at the Grand Cochon. Hosted by Gail Simmons and Brady Lowe from the Taste Network, the "Big Pig" featured ten winners from 
In addition to some incredibly creative concoctions, like this braised heart and trotter "boudin," from The French Laundry's Devin Knell, we were treated to a butchering demo by San Francisco's Ryan Farr from 4505 Meats. I was impressed by how many people gathered around to watch, although in fairness, there was a large bowl of chicharones (crispy fried pork rinds) on the table next to him.
Here you can see Gail Simmons crowning the "King of Porc," David Varley from Bourbon Steak in Washington D.C. For more information on the participants, as well as Cochon555's mission to support the use of heritage- breed pigs, please check out 
.
Liquid nitrogen has become as ubiquitous on Top Chef as sleeve tattoos, so it was no surprise that last year's winner, Michael Voltaggio, used it to help create this unusual offering for the Food & Wine Classic's opening reception at the St. Regis.
I assume this was the "past, present" part of the program, because as I moved towards his little brother's side of the station, it was clear we'd been transported into the future. Inside the clear shot glass was a tomato "gumdrop" on a stick, topped with bacon "dippin' dots," and micro greens.
Imagine a pig roast set-up alongside a gorgeous mountain stream. Picture a who's who of star chefs sipping the finest Spanish wines alongside the biggest names in food publishing, press, and public relations, as thin wisps of sweet, pork-scented smoke float by.
This was the scene at the annual Wines from Spain barbecue hosted by Jose Andres. As the giddy crowd mingled around platters of chorizo, blood sausage, and savory pig parts from snout to tail (literally), the always jovial Spanish chef performed what can only be described as "pork communion."
Using the preamble, "this is the pig of God," he would lovingly place a crispy wafer of mustard-dipped pork skin, or juicy slice of medium-rare skirt steak on someone's tongue. Dear God, it was good. Sacrilege you say? More like sacrilicious!
Ten of the country's best and brightest culinary stars are brought together to show off their skills and cutting edge cuisine in a head-to-head battle royal. I'm sure these chefs always try to put out great tasting food, but knowing that nine of their peers are pulling out all the stops to be named, "Best New Chef," would certainly raise anyone's game.
Another standout was an impossibly light, yet strangely satisfying scrambled egg mousse with salmon roe and birch syrup, served by John Shields, chef at Town House in Chilhowie, Virginia. I admitted to the chef that this one had me worried when I read it on the menu, but it was stellar. I never get tired of being wrong.
Street food legend, Roy Choi, mastermind of the famously successful Kogi BBQ trucks in Los Angeles, offered up a "chego" meatball, served with polenta, sesame, cilantro, peppers, glazed with a sweet and spicy sauce. Apparently "chego" is a Korean exclamation meaning something to the effect of, "Holy [expletive deleted], that's unbelievably delicious!" If it doesn't, it should, because it was.
Arguably America's top chef, Thomas Keller is known for creating some of the most beautiful, forward-thinking, innovative food in the country. So I'll admit to being just a little bit disappointed to find out his demo in Aspen was called, World's Best Preserves. When I think preserves, I picture dusty mason jars in the back of a cupboard.
If I had to choose just one chef from the impressive collection in Aspen to drive cross-country with, it would be Tim Love. And that's before I saw his epic High Steaks Grilling demo. This is a man who knows how to have a good time, as well as grill a damn fine steak.
I've been to many educational cooking lessons, and I've been to many entertaining cooking lessons, but very rare is the occasion where both meld into one perfectly pleasurable presentation. This was maybe the single most enjoyable cooking demo I've every attended.
Next week I'll be doing an in-depth grilling tips and tricks post with all the information I collected. I think you'll be very surprised at some of Love's somewhat controversial theories and practices. I'll also be posting a short, but priceless video clip of something called "oil shot roulette." In anticipation, you can