"StarChefs" news and stories

StarChefs, the "magazine for culinary insiders," celebrated New York's "Rising Stars" on Tuesday with a gala tasting in New York City.

Slashfood popped in to check out the fare and gaze at culinary stars like honoree and "Top Chef" Season One winner Harold Dieterle and Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto (whose New York restaurant Chef Jamison Blankenship was honored and whipped up a bouillabaisse) as well as Babyface (who knew the hitmaker was a foodie?).

Del Posto's pastry chef, Brooks Headley, paired pea shoots with strawberry gelato, while mixologist Maxwell Britten made Gingerbutter Collins with scotch whiskey. Best overheard conversation of the night: "She puts bacon in everything now, even chocolate chip cookies." We'll have to try that.

Food porn after the jump.

Certain things are just too hard to watch -- whether it's a friend's super-serious expression as she winds up to bowl or your boyfriend in the throes of "Guitar Hero".

That's how we felt upon discovering this video, a greatest-hits compilation of cocktail-shaking by New York City's top mixologists. The 10 minute long odyssey features 30-second clips of 33 mostly-male NYC barkeeps. It starts with the Cars provocative "Shake it Up" and trails off eerily into bar noise, the cacophony of shakers and fierce, game-face expressions.

Boring? Nope. Oddly mesmerizing, in the same way that you can't look away from "The Bachelor" but might put your hands over your eyes.

These are true practitioners of the art, however, so let us know if this gets you inspired to go practice your shakin' style, whether it's the one-hander (some bartenders put the other hand behind their backs, sommelier-style) or the hard shake practiced by Tailor's Eben Freeman. And here's a pretty raspberry-and-gin laced Belmont Stakes elixir from Gourmet (the race is on Saturday) in case you wish to practice your skills before the weekend hits.

[Star Chefs] via [Grub Street]

Though I usually enjoy watching shows like Iron Chef and the like, I often get jealous frustrated because of the vast array of food, seasonings, and condiments they have at their disposal. Let's face it, truffles, foie gras, and cinnamon oil don't exactly line my shelves on a regular basis. What is even more frustrating though is when I actually do want to buy some of these exotic ingredients, I can't seem to find them in any of my local markets.

After a bit of a search, I discovered this website which is helping to eliminate that problem - StarChefs.com has compiled a list of chef-recommended "secret ingredients" and where to buy them, making it easier to locate such items as avocado leaves, Mexican chocolate, black mustard seeds, white or black truffle powder and cream, duck confit, chestnut jam, rare cheeses, orange flower water, Tahitian vanilla extract, and smoked Sicilian tuna. Fortunately, even if you don't live near the specified stores (mostly New York or East Coast) many of the shops offer courier service so you can have the ingredients shipped right to your door.

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