"canned goods" news and stories

This week on Top Chef, the pressure's on. Two chefs were sent home last week (Eugene and Melissa) and so the field has gotten increasingly narrow and more competitive. This week, in the Quick Fire Challenge, the chef'testants have to make something delicious out of nothing but canned and processed ingredients, and do it all in just fifteen minutes. Can they do it? Check out above clip to see their reactions to the challenge.

For the elimination round, the big city chefs to head to the country to get as close to the source as they can for their ingredients, which all come from Blue Hill Farm. The challenge is to work with what they have to create a feast for the farm workers (as well as the judges). Dan Barber, chef and co-owner of Blue Hill restaurant in NYC, serves as guest judge.

Joystiq doesn't usually tackle food pieces, but when they involve Super Mario, they are willing to make an exception. Nintendo Canada and a group called Canstruction got together and built a giant Mario out of canned goods in honor of the new Super Mario Bros game becoming the fastest-selling game in the country. In total, 4,000 cans were used and the 10-foot tall Mario weighed over 2,600 lbs. Judging from the other photos, the foods used included canned ham and chicken, as well as bags of popcorn for the mustache and eyebrows. All the cans (and presumably the popcorn, as well) are being donated to the Daily Bread Food Bank when Mario is deconstructed.

Too bad they didn't do Mario Batali, the other super Mario, while they were at it!

What do you have the most of in your pantry? Because I like to bake, I always have a fairly large supply of baking ingredients, including different flours, baking powder, baking soda, and yeast, among other things, like chocolate chips and sugar. I also always have cereal and oatmeal to give myself some breakfast options. But there is one thing that I almost have more cans of than I can count: tomatoes.

Granted, I do use canned tomatoes a fair amount, especially when making dishes like soups and pasta sauces. I love tomatoes and it is much easier to reach for a convenient jar of them, especially when they’re pre-roasted or diced, than it is to fuss with fresh tomatoes. For some reason, though, I buy them in groups of twos and threes with complete disregard to the fact that I have at least 10 different varieties already in my cupboard. Addiction? Paranoia? I am quite certain that the world would not end if I ran out of my favorite canned tomatoes, and yet I can’t seem to help myself. That’s my pantry-stocking secret. What’s yours? Beans? Cereal? Jarred salsa?

A woman in Tennessee claims that her 89-year old mother found a mouse in a can of Campbell's Bean and Bacon soup. Campbell's representatives say that they would like to examine the mouse and the can in question, both of which have been stored by the family who made the allegations. The company says that it is unlikely that a mouse could have gotten into the very rigidly monitored packaging system at their plant. Casting further doubts on the legitimacy of the claim is the fact that the woman's mother reportedly ate some of the soup before noticing that there was a mouse in the can.

To give you an idea of the sizes, though the article does not specifically state what size can of soup the woman purchased, a regular sized can of Campbell's soup is 10.5-ounces and an adult mouse is about 1-ounce. The woman must have been eating directly from the can, as she would mostly likely have seen the mouse (if it was, in fact, in the can) had she decanted the soup.

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