AP
'Top Chef' Walking Tour Debuts
If you're a fan of 'Top Chef,' you'll love this three-hour walking tour.
Keith Ferris, The Culinary Institute of America
James Kent to Head Team U.S.A. at Bocuse d'Or
James Kent will represent the U.S. at the 2011 Bocuse d'Or in France.
jupiterimages
FDA Weighs Update to Serving Sizes
The FDA wants serving sizes on foods to reflect how much people actually eat.
Jennifer Iserloh, Skinny Chef
Mini Red Velvet Cheesecake
A healthier, mini-cheesecake for Valentine's Day.
Snickers
Top 5 Super Bowl Food Commercials
Animals. Babies. Animals acting like people. It's Super Bowl commercial time.
Vosges Chocolate/Fishs Eddy
Funky Valentine's Gifts for Foodies
Show sweet affection to the one you love with these unconventional gifts.
Getty Images
Monsanto Introduces a New Breed of Onion
This new breed wasn't genetically modified.
kamoda, Flickr
Chocolate & Wine: The Perfect Coupling
Make your Valentine's more indulgent with these chocolate-and-wine pairings.

Slashfood

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes - Feast Your Eyes

by Sarah LeTrent, Posted Feb 9th 2010 10:00AM

cinnamon roll cupcake Photo: jwannie, Flickr

The wafting smell of breakfast pastries baking in the oven is one of life's simplest pleasures – especially if that heavenly aroma is cinnamon-scented.

But why limit decadently gooey cinnamon rolls to the morning? The blog frites & fries offers up a solution -- all the flavors of a soft, chewy cinnamon roll infused into a cupcake.

The batter is a revised version of a butter cake recipe from Gourmet -- with the addition of cinnamon and golden brown sugar. After the cupcakes are baked, each is topped with a small dab of cream cheese frosting and a bite-sized chunk of cinnamon roll (sprinkles are so passé).

And if you want to eat these traditionally dessert-time treats for breakfast, we won't judge.

Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool to get a shot of having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.

Filed under: Feast Your Eyes, Features

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Tröegs Nugget Nectar - Beer of the Week

COMMENTS 3

by Joshua M. Bernstein, Posted Feb 8th 2010 5:00PM

Photo: DROOO, Flickr

After dwelling in New York for a decade, I've grown to despise the brutal month of February. The barren landscape is as gray as the sidewalks, with the Arctic winds chilling me to the bone. But during these depressing days, there's still one event that flips my frown: the release of Tröegs' Nugget Nectar, a seasonal beer that's like the promise of a coming spring.

Now, Harrisburg, Pa.'s Tröegs puts out numerous knockouts. The coffee-infused Java Head Stout combines a.m. and p.m. pleasures, while the DreamWeaver Wheat is tangy and banana-tinged. Then there's the Hopback Amber Ale, so-called because the beer circulates through a hop-packed vessel. It's a heady and aromatic home run. But Hopback's bigger brother, the Nugget Nectar, is a grand slam.

"We wanted to take some of the traits inherent to Hopback Amber Ale -- mainly the sweet finish of the caramel malt -- and interpret that into something different," explains brewery manager Ed Yashinsky.

Filed under: Drinks

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'Top Chef' Walking Tour Debuts in New York City

COMMENTS 0

by Nicki Gostin, Posted Feb 8th 2010 4:45PM

With 'Sex and the City' and 'Gossip Girl' tours already underway in New York City, it only seemed inevitable that some enterprising foodie would concoct a 'Top Chef' walking tour.

Because the popular cooking show is filmed in a different city every season, this tour focuses on season five -- which was filmed in Manhattan. The tours are conducted by professional chefs who offer culinary tips and fun quizzes while schlepping around the Big Apple.

Places visited on the tour include DiPalo's Fine Food in Little Italy, an old school store that sells homemade mozzarella and scrumptious soppressata, Wichcraft, a restaurant owned by Tom Colicchio, the head judge of the reality TV series and 24 Prince, a Soho bistro co-owned by Nikki Cascone who was actually a contestant on the show. Whenever she is available, Cascone drops by to chat to the tour group about what it was like being a reality television show contestant. (According to A.P. she yaks about being evaluated by mental-health professionals. We guess that Bravo isn't keen on having sociopaths in close proximity to sharpened knives).

Filed under: Television/Film, Chefs

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Free Pancakes at IHOP on February 23

COMMENTS 2

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Feb 8th 2010 4:00PM

pancakes Getty Images

Flapjack fans have a reason to celebrate Fat Tuesday a week later.

On Feb. 23, IHOP will offer a free short stack of their buttermilk pancakes to every customer from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. In return, pancaking patrons are asked to leave a courtesy short stack of their own for Children's Miracle Network hospitals.

IHOP first celebrated "National Pancake Day" in 2006. Since that time, the restaurant chain has raised more than $3.25 million and served more than 6.1 million pancakes. This year, IHOP hopes to reach a total fundraising effort of $5 million -- making for five million in five years.

Last year's National Pancake Day was IHOP's largest one-day event in the company's 51-year history -- proving free food for a good cause is always a reason to "flip" out.

To find an IHOP near you or to donate online, visit www.ihoppancakeday.com.

Filed under: Events, News

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Think You Know the Foods of Love?

COMMENTS 0

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Feb 8th 2010 3:00PM

Well-schooled in food that will put you in the mood? Test your knowledge of aphrodisiacs with this lustful quiz!

Aphrodisiac Foods: How and Why They Increase Desire

The ____ in garlic is said to stir sexual desires?

Spice
Kick
Smell
Heat

True or False: Aphrodisiacs were first sought out as a remedy for various sexual anxieties, including fears of inadequate performance as well as a need to increase fertility.

True
False

The love goddess Aphrodite was said to consider what kind of bird sacred for its amorous nature?

Sparrows
Owls
Doves
Crows

Asparagus is frequently enjoyed as an aphrodisiac food because of its:

Smell
Health benefits
Phallic shape
Color

The Aztecs referred to chocolate as:

The ultimate aphrodisiac
Nourishment of the Gods
A must-have food
A substitute for caffeine

Who was first to consider oysters as aphrodisiacs?

Aztecs
Greeks
Romans
Egyptians

The musky scent of truffles is said to stimulate the:

Skin
Libido
Heart
Brain

This aphrodisiac is most likely a myth created to get people to eat this healthy vegetable.

Green Pepper
Cucumber
Peas
Broccoli

The Aztecs called the avocado tree

Filed under: Quizzes, Features

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James Kent to Head Team U.S.A. at Bocuse d'Or

COMMENTS 1

by Jennifer Lawinski, Posted Feb 8th 2010 2:30PM

Keith Ferris, The Culinary Institute of America

James Kent, sous chef at New York City's Eleven Madison Park restaurant, will represent the U.S. at the 2011 Bocuse d'Or cooking competition in Lyon, France, Nation's Restaurant News reported.

He will be assisted by fellow Eleven Madison Park sous chef Tom Allan. Kent beat out 11 other semifinalists from around the country at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. on Saturday.

(Click here for more on the American semifinalists from Slashfood.)

The Bocuse d'Or competition was started in 1987 by French chef Paul Bocuse to "o broaden the public understanding of the rigors involved in culinary excellence," NRN reported. The biannual competition pits teams from 24 countries against one another in a haute-cuisine cook-off.

Filed under: Chefs, Events

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'Iron Chef America' - Duff, Meet Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman

COMMENTS 0

by Michael Thomas Hastings, Posted Feb 8th 2010 2:00PM

Photo: Food Network

We knew going into this week's Iron Chef that we'd have fun. The only question was how much fun. Ace of Cakes professional goofball Duff Goldman as a competitor? Chocolate and chiles as the secret ingredients? Who needs the Super Bowl?!

Sure, it may have been a little brazen of the Food Network to slot one of their own superstars opposite the easygoing (and similarly cue-ball domed, chin-scruffed) reigning chef, Michael Symon. But, hey -- if you want to lure viewers away from one of the most-watched events of the year, you've got to bring out the big guns, right?

They didn't stop there: Not only did Duff get his own cheering section -- his Charm City colleagues and a bunch of screaming ladies -- he also got a super-celeb judging panel. The whole evening, in fact, seemed to be designed for the 25-to-40-year-old female demographic who, if we may be so bold, probably wasn't bothering with the macho-testosterone play-by-play over on CBS. Call it the "Women Who Appreciate Fine Dining and the Bald Lunkheads Who Love Them" hour.

Filed under: Television/Film

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In Obesity Battle, FDA Weighs Update to Serving Sizes

COMMENTS 3

by Jennifer Lawinski, Posted Feb 8th 2010 1:30PM

jupiterimages

Would you still eat six Double Stuf Oreos if you knew that you had just eaten three servings worth?

In an effort to help Americans make healthier food choices, the FDA wants serving sizes on foods like ice cream, breakfast cereals, chips and cookies to reflect how much people actually eat, the New York Times reported.

"If you put on a meaningful portion size, it would scare a lot of people," Barry Popkin, a nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina, told the Times. "They would see, 'I'm going to get 300 calories from that, or 500 calories'."

Filed under: Health & Medical

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