"MingTsai" news and stories

Korean Kalbi with Tofu and Oyster Mushrooms. Photo: Special*Dark, Flickr.

• The ins and outs of harvesting cranberries: the history, the pros, how the good ones "bounce," plus a cranberry time line.
• Animal Farm's Jersey Cow butter hits hot spots like French Laundry and Per Se.
• Weymouth's Dunkin Donuts is one of the few in the country that take the "time to make the donuts" slogan to heart, by making the breakfast treats fresh.
• Taking a few steps into the past with a look at Tilly & Salvy's Bacon Street Farm -- a grocery store dating back to 1938.
• Chef Ming Tsai writes about Tokyo's exotic street eats while visiting the city for his dad's 80th birthday.
• The Stork Club will try to bring life back to the corner that used to hold Bob's Southern Bistro.
• A Q&A with Patricia Yeo of Ginger Park.
• Partially prepared foods allow the busy to cook at home under time constraints.
• "The Gastrokid Cookbook" says you shouldn't "cook down" to kids.
• Twenty-six years later, India Quality is traditional fare without the fusion confusion of many new digs.
• Taste Coffee House brings high coffee culture to the Boston area.
• Woo Jung Restaurant serves up Korean food with a homey and familial feel.
• Recipes: Locro, Garlic Ramen Noodles, Beef and Veggie Stir-Fry, Chicken Caesar Salad, Vegetable Curry, Accidental Agrodolce Chicken.

Today's Burger of the Day comes from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association of all places. As you can tell by the name, this quarter-pound burger is meant to fall into the realm of fusion. I don't think Ming Tsai created the recipe, though.

Before we get into the burger itself, I have a wee bone to pick with the ad copy. While I realize that the tag line is about lean ground beef, it still rankles me. Calling beef fat is a compliment as far as I'm concerned. Evidently, the NCBA is not promoting beef brisket or other luscious cuts that form the backbone of Texas barbecue with this campaign.

Now that my rant's over, let's get back to the burger. It's certainly one of the most healthful specimens that we've written about this month. And with a spicy sesame-soy mayonnaise and Asian slaw dressing the peppery burger it's probably quite tasty. So far, I understand the East part of this burger. I guess the West part refers to the beef itself since there's nothing particularly Western about any of the other ingredients.

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Seems like I always miss the fun stuff whenever I'm out of town. Case in point: the gigantic cranberry bog that Ocean Spray brought to New York City's Rockefeller Center from November 1 to November 3. The 1,500-square-foot cranberry sea was constructed as part of the company's Bogs Across America campaign. I imagine the campaign is an effort to remind people not to forget to serve cranberries at Thanksgiving.

Celebrity chef Ming Tsai was on hand at Rock Center for a cooking demo that included sweet-and-sour cranberry chutney. No word yet as to whether any rowdy Gothamites decided to jump into what Ocean Spray dubbed its Big Apple Bog.

The cranberry campaign touched down in Chicago today with the Windy City Bog, which will remain at the Chicago Tribune Tower until November 9. And if you happen to live in Los Angeles, you too can view a ridiculous amount of cranberries. The Red Carpet Bog will be at the city's Hollywood & Highland Center from November 14 to November 16. [via: Grub Street]

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There was a time in my life when I used to love the Food Network. In fact, I liked it so much, that when I walked in the door after work, I turned on the TV, which was already programmed to the Food Network from the night before. I would leave it on all evening until I went to sleep. I wasn't always watching very carefully what was happening on the screen, and sometimes, I even had the sound on mute, but it was comforting to know that someone inside the little flickering box in my living room was cooking something delicious. Back then, I even liked watching Emeril Lagasse, though I have to admit that I was watching his old show, The Essence of Emeril, in which a young Emeril was somewhat awkwardly, but very earnestly, cooking something. Hell, even in the early days of Emeril Live, I thought "Bam!" was kind of cute.

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