"chowder" news and stories

You'd think that with the nation's focus on turkey, cranberry sauce and the subsequent holiday season, November food festivals would be few and far from interesting. Not so -- from warm-ups to warm climes, check out our roundup of remarkable November fȇtes.

Chocolate Show New York, New York, Oct. 30-Nov. 1: A brief event straddling two months, these three decadent days include book signings, cooking demos and tastings, from chocolate experts such as Jacques Torres' -- he's pairing Puerto Rican rum and chocolate -- as well as party ideas.

Chocolate Festival of Texas and Texas Wines, Houston, Tex., Nov. 6-7: Not to be out-gunned by the Yanks, the Lone Star State is holding its own celebration for chocoholics, and this one includes oenophiles, who get a souvenir wine glass.

Port Barre Cracklin Festival, Port Barre, La., Nov. 12-15: You read right -- fat back is on offer! The perfect way to pad up for winter hibernation. There will be a fair pageant, rides, live entertainment and the obligatory cook-off.

Anyone who says the bacon craze is over clearly doesn't love bacon as much as we do or is, at the very least, unaware of all the ways bacon enhances our culinary world. And it's impossible to imagine any omnivore in his or her right mind hating on bacon when staring down at this bowl of cheddar corn chowder topped off with what blogger Ezra Pound Cake calls "God's confetti."

While the "hearty, creamy, comforting soup brimming with potatoes, corn, onions and sharp white-cheddar cheese" is enough to make anyone's mouth water, it's really the bacon on top that makes this Ina Garten recipe even more enticing.

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Bento box. Photo: luckysundae, Flickr

• Bento boxes continue to gain popularity in the U.S. as more moms discover the virtues of disguising healthy food in fun shapes.
• Gary Vaynerchuk whips up a vino fervor with his Wine Library TV and unconventional tasting notes.
• Cooking with Dexter talks about tykes and the joys of fresh-catching sea fare, and whips up a Red Shrimp Chowder with Corn.
• A prominent Italian-American restaurant scene is just the tip of the Staten Island iceberg of international culinary delights.
• The Minimalist makes pasta with mussels.
• Dogfish always tries to bend the boundaries of beer -- and now they're taking it a step further with saliva-strengthened chicha. Yes, spit.
• Motorino gets a second pizza-filled location after a prime find on Craigslist.
• California winemaker Kathryn Kennedy has passed away at the age of 82.
• A Good Appetite reminisces about Aunt Sandy's famous shindigs and her Sweet and Sour Salmon.
• The Temporary Vegetarian makes Soybeans with Garlic and Dill.
• Food Stuff finds a mixture of cheese and antiques, handy ice cream containers and South African vinegars.
• New York's openings and closings, and dining calendar.

Photo: Susan Filson/Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy

What you're looking at may very well be the platonic ideal of crab and corn chowder. Note the massive chunks of crab, the bounty of fat yellow kernels of corn and a creamy broth whose surface is speckled with little pools of chili oil. Made and photographed by Susan Filson of the appealingly named Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy, it looks like the perfect antidote to summer's swelter: If the dog days are getting you down, fight them off with a bit of crab.

[Via Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy]

When it comes to soul-satisfying food, people just can't get enough of the creamy textures of comfort food dishes. Mac and cheese, fettuccini, chowders and cream soups top many people's list of favorite indulgences, along with ice cream and milkshakes. But do things have to be loaded with fat to be creamy and taste good?

My short answer is an emphatic "No!" I've developed a few easy ways to keep the creaminess in and the fat out, starting with my method for making savory, velvety corn chowder. This is the perfect soup for this time of year, when you're yearning for something that reminds you of warm weather, like chowder at the beach side -- but which will still warm you up on chilly March evenings.

Here are three skinny secrets that you can use in any of your favorite recipes or even add to store-bought items to ramp up the creaminess and lower the fat.

Tips and corn-chowder recipe are after the jump.