"Epicurious.com" news and stories

Our pals at Epicurious's Epi-Log pointed us to this lusciously awkward Today Show cooking segment wherein Sam the Cooking Guy shuts Kathie Lee's cakehole not so much with cake, as with a heaping helping of STFU. It's no doubt soured his relationship with the show, but makes for some mighty sweet TV.

Is this the most deliciously cringe-inducing in the history of food television, or can you dredge up any others? Post your thoughts and video links below.

See the whole segment here.


[via: Epicurious]

During the first couple of days of July, I nibbled my way through three floors of New York City's Javits Center while attending the Summer Fancy Food Show. Several other folks from AOL Food and Epicurious were also there, tasting chips, cheese, chocolates and dips. We discovered that there are quite a few people making artisanal chocolate, flavoring things with lavender and pear-ginger and doing amazing things with live foods among many other, tasty things.

We've all sorted through our samples, press kits and memories, trying to bring you what we think was the very best of the show in one fun, appealing slideshow that you can find over at AOL Food. Head on over, take and look and then come back over here and let us know what you think. Did we pick anything you love? Or did we happen to hit on a product you've tried and not liked? We want to hear what you think!

[via: AOL Food]

I'm not gonna pretend that this picture is pretty, or in the least bit appetizing, but I will note that the results are disturbingly delicious. The heart of the matter is that I went to a cookout a few weekends ago and was offered a grilled chicken heart by a friend who has yet to serve me anything that is less than madly tasty. Emboldened by this, I picked up a package of chicken hearts on a shopping jaunt this week, and started perusing my favorite recipe sites for marinades. It didn't take me long to find a 1956 James Beard recipe suggesting that these would make a dandy appetizer for a group of 25. Twenty-five of whom, I'm not entirely sure, 'cause even as staunchly carnivorous as my pals tend to be, few of 'em dig getting their offal on as much as I do, and I wouldn't subject them to it. There are exceptions, though.

Some friends came over this afternoon to serve as panel members for AOL Food's upcoming Hot Dog Taste Test. As I tended the grill between rounds, one of them began holding forth about how methods of barbecuing and grilling really were born of the necessity to bring greater flavor to cheap and previously discarded cuts of meat, and how folks were getting way too fancy-schmancy with the whole thing these days. I left my post at the flames, walked him to the fridge, pulled out the plastic container full of marinating hearts and started putting them on bamboo skewers.

He shut up and started eating.

James Beard's 1956 Grilled Chicken Hearts Recipe on Epicurious

(Note: In the above pic, I was out of sherry and subbed in brandy, which proved perfectly yummy.)

Pie is probably one of America's favorite desserts. The question is what is America's favorite kind of pie?

Michael Park over at Epicurious.com gives us some answers. He revealed a pie poll from the makers of Mrs. Smiths, Schwans Consumer Brands North America. The poll asked participants to name their three favorite pies. Which one came in first, you ask? Well, it was apple of course! Turns out it was the overwhelming favorite.

I was personally surprised that Key lime pie was at the bottom of the list. But I guess with so many kinds of pie out there, it's a measure of the popularity of key lime pie that it made the list at all. So how about it? What's your favorite kind of pie?

In case you didn't realize it, tomorrow is Valentine's Day! Hard to believe we're halfway through the month of February already. Guys, I hope you've bought something for your significant other.

Epicurious has a recipe for Meringue Kisses, which is a healthier version of the kisses you're probably used to eating. When I saw the ingredients - both of them, eggs and sugar - I thought it was a typo. That's all you need to make kisses?