"chorizo" news and stories

Spoilers! Spoilers!

Last night's episode of Top Chef finally addressed the question that show has been toying with all season: Is it better to sidestep the rules and create an amazing dish, or to follow the rules and produce something mediocre? Until this episode, it seemed to me that the judges went with whichever answer matched up with the contestant who they wanted to send home (my mom accurately likened it to a card trick where you know the card before the trick starts, then "find" it through whatever means). But now they have finally established that a better dish is more important than one that follows the rules closely, and I hope for the sake of consistency that they stick by this for the rest of the season. Oh yeah, and the Elimination Challenge was nuts.

• A foodie tour of the Mediterranean with Jacques Pepin.
• Eight travelers pick their favorite foods from around the world (and their favorite bags to put that food in).
• Airstream Cuisine.
• What are chefs in Spain interested in now?
• Who's the next Jamie Oliver?
• A quick guide to Pinot Noir.
• How to make a better cupcake.
• New stuff for your kitchen, here, here, and here.
• This month's recipes include: Chilled Russian Borscht, Tangy Twice-Cooked Eggplants with Red Peppers, Watermelon and Goat Cheese Salad, Spiced Pinto Beans with Chorizo, Cubano Sandwiches, Korean Grilled Beef, Baja Fried Shrimp Tacos, Poached Eggs with Baked Feta and Olives, Chocolate Buttermilk Cake, and Lemonade Slushies with Mint and Lemon Verbena.

If you are looking for a Mexican dish to serve for your Cinco de Mayo celebrations this weekend, my recommendation is to check out Homesick Texan, who will not only give you a bit of history about the holiday, but provides an amazing recipe for Tinga de Puerco.

This dish is a Pueblan stew consisting of pork, chorizo, tomatoes and chipotles. As she states, the stew is traditionally served on crisp tostadas, but may also be eaten with tortilla chips, wrapped in soft tortillas, or eaten like a typical stew simply with a spoon. I'm getting the ingredients for this myself tonight - serve with a few cerveza and Cinco de Mayo has begun!

(image: Homesick Texan)

Source

If ever you plan to grab dinner at Sporting Clube de Londres in West London, make sure you wear a welding mask.

At least, if you order the chorizo appetizer.

Rui Daniel Faria Velosa, the owner of the Portuguese restaurant, was fined April on April 12 for an incident that occurred back in May 2005. A server brought the appetizer in the ceramic dish to the table. The food was already flaming, but the server returned with more rum to top off the dish. The rum spilled all over the woman, leaving her with burns on her face and hands. She spent two weeks in the hospital and still suffers from flashbacks, panic attacks, and anxiety.

If that happened to me, I'd probably eat raw food for the rest of my life.

There are several methods to making jambalaya, and I am sure people will argue until the end of time as to which is better, but personally I like them both. The first type, which is what I made, is known as Creole-style or red jambalaya which includes tomatoes. The second type, Cajun jambalaya, is brown in color and does not have any tomatoes added.

Red jambalaya is very easy to prepare and can be made in one pot, though I tend to fry my sausage separately to ensure that it is well done. That's just my choice though, you can do it either way. I chose to use ham and andouille sausage for mine, but there are a number of different meats and seafood you can use, it is all a matter of personal taste and what you have available.

I've included the recipe after the jump, as well as some suggestions as to how you can make this dish suit your personal preferences.