"cooks" news and stories

The rivalry between UC Berkeley and Stanford has been taken to a new arena: the kitchen. The Big Cookoff was held over the weekend in Cal's Pauley Ballroom, which was made over into an approximation of the Iron Chef's Kitchen Stadium, where fresh vegetables and other ingredients lined the walls. The two 5-student teams were allowed to bring in outside specialty ingredients, as well.

The secret ingredient - fresh tomatoes - was revealed 30 minutes before the official time began and the teams had to complete three dishes in 35 minutes, although they both made more. Cal's Cooking Club came up with a trio of soups: Gazpacho, Spicy yellow tomato and ginger, Roasted tomato, chipotle, and pancetta; panko and chili crusted chicken breast with three salsas; pizza on puff pastry with prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, tomato topped with mixed green salad and a sundried tomato vingairette; and a tomato, pineapple, mango, and lime wonton-ravioli drizzled with chocolate sauce and served with a spicy tomato sorbet. Stanford made panzanella salad with an aged balsamic vinegar reduction dressing, two tomato soups, and a tofu, goat cheese, crab and tomato custard as the main dish.

Taking a cue from the Axe that is up for grabs in the Big Game, the two teams competed for "the cleaver." The new trophy will be passed back and forth (if Stanford actually manages to beat Cal at some point) as long as the battle of culinary skill rages.

Go Bears!

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Russ Parsons pays some respect to chef Michel Richard, who at one point, threatened to kill the writer for a review of his first LA restaurant, Citrus. Don't worry, they are friends now.

For cooking, want some real barbecue? Dig a hole. Pit barbecue is where it's at. And if you're looking to cook Indian, Madhur Jaffrey's new cookbook, Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India. Betty Hallock find and shares the recipe for chicken liver crostini from AOC.

Out on the restaurant scene, SIV gives sushi newcomer on the Westside, K-Zo, two stars (**). Susan La Tempa tries out a new take on Thai at Busaba Thai Vegetarian Kitchen on Melrose. Betty Hallock goes to the Water Grill.

Considering a career as a chef or elsewhere in the restaurant industry? StarChefs.com has released the results of its annual salary survey of restaurant industry professionals. Executive chefs, perhaps unsurprisingly, make more money than most in the industry, though they also work the longest hours. The results may be skewed by the fact that some chefs make dramatically more than others, pulling up the average. Salaries also vary by region, with pastry chefs in Las Vegas making over 30% more than their colleagues in California and Florida. Age, job satisfaction and both ethnicity and gender were also taken into account in parts of the survey, so the results are a good starting point to learn about potential careers and where to start them.

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The New York City campaign against sous vide cooking continues, but with a little bit of new light shed on the subject. As expected, it is not the practices of all chefs who use the technique that are under fire, but the practices of some who are risking the use of the cooking method for all. According to this week's New York Times, the cooking technique that locks in moisture and flavor by keeping the food sealed in a vacuum might also lock in bacteria because some sous vide chefs also store their food in vacuum sealed packages.

Contrary to popular belief, vacuum sealing a food is not enough to prevent the growth of bacteria and cooks who store and cook their food in the same container are risking the health of their customers. In France, where the technique originated, chefs are required to cook food immediately after it has been sealed and cooked to an internal temperature of at least 132.8 degrees F, at which point most of the potential bacteria in the food will have been killed.

The health department's new guidelines will not be released until the summer, and until then chefs who use sous vide in New York risk facing charges of a misdemeanor, with a possibility of imprisonment.

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Clever piece by C. Monks, where he lists the top 10 utensils of the year. No big surprises on what he picks; the surprise lies in why he picked them:

3. Whisk: I admit that Whisk has an unfair advantage because I simply love saying the word "Whisk." But that aside, Whisk had another solid year. While its versatility is limited, it is great at what it was made for: whisking things.

9. Steak Knife #5: In past years I've found it terribly difficult to select one steak knife above the others, but this year it was no contest. Steak Knife #5 makes all the other steak knifes  (especially the overrated and pompous Steak Knife #2) look like butter knives at a Dull Convention.