Alton Brown's sweet potato pie

To honor the upcoming holiday and to participate in an awesome group I learned about on Twitter, last weekend I decided to finally make Alton Brown's sweet potato pie. This recipe is one languishing on the "to cook list." However, since the time of the year brings us a bounty of sweet potatoes at the old megamart there was no better time to cross it off the list.


First I started with locating some fine sweet potatoes and resisting from calling out the produce manager on labeling the bin "yams."

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

Surprisingly, the 1.3 pounds of sweet potatoes call for was only two large taters.

For the crust, instead of allowing myself to heed AB's approval of using frozen pie crust, I opted to make a crust. This idea sprang from another pumpkin pie recipe I saw years ago. It is a ginger snap crust. About 30 crushed snaps (store bought, yeah I admit it), two tablespoons of melted butter and some sugar. The crumbs, sugar and butter are mixed together and pressed into a pie pan. In my case, a nifty peacock blue Fiestaware pie dish. Then blind baked for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

While the crust was baking, actually before, I started the sweet potatoes cooking using Alton's method of steaming. The only way I've cook sweet taters before is microwaving. But for larger amounts the steaming method is easy, though not quick. The sweet potatoes ended up needing an extra five minutes in the steamer to become full soft.

Before makes this pie, I checked the reviews on Food Network's site. Seems a lot of people complained about the yogurt, saying it gave the pie a funny taste. One reviewer even complained about the lemon, I never figured that one out since there is absolutely no lemon in the recipe. Odd.

The yogurt did not make the pie taste strange. I have used yogurt in several recipes, a lot of them from AB, and it never makes the dish taste strange. I thought maybe because I like yogurt the taste didn't bother me, so I asked my mom if she noticed anything odd about it. She doesn't like yogurt. She told me it was a great pumpkin pie and has said talked about the next time I make it. So, yeah, it went over well.

The only change made was omitting the maple pecan topping. Since I have a nut allergy it had to go.

Although I liked the ginger snap crust, the next time I'm trying a traditional pie crust.

Note the snazzy oven mitts. :)

Oh, if your curious the Twitter group takes a monthly theme on food and post writings or photos about the theme and tweets to #letslunch.

Since there is an apparent canned pumkin shortage this year, make the best pumpkin pie using AB's sweet Potato pie recipe.

Alton Brown on CBS Sunday Morning

Alton Brown will be featured in the "Eat, Drink and be Merry!" episode of CBS Sunday Morning
this Sunday 11/22. Be sure watch, set the DVR, or whatever. :)

Alton Brown on YouTube... finally

Alton Brown's lecture is finally online! Head over to Food Networks YouTube Channel and see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Inap7nXaKE0




And check out this amazing photo from the demo, sent to me via Twitter from someone at the show! Thanks EricaJoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericajoy/4118948144/

Alton Brown iGoogle theme

As a part of the blitz with YouTube, Food Network, et al., Google is now offering iGoogle themes with FN shows and hosts and, of course, Alton Brown is featured.

Head over to there page and get the theme.

My current theme is adorale yellow lab puppies... should I change it?



Change is good...

Alton Brown's YouTube event

There's a little confusion about Alton's live video set to 'air' Thursday night, Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m. The info is still showing on AB's site that his "10 Things I Know About Food" lecture will be on. However I have from another source, the video will be the Target and Food Network venture.

Food Network's YouTube channel says:

Food Network Chef Alton Brown is taking your Thanksgiving recipe
questions and will answer the most interesting queries in a special video series
this week. Submit your question in the Food Network channel comments below and get help from one of the most creative chefs in the culinary world. Come back
this Friday to see if Alton answers your question.

Over on Target's Holiday Solutions channel is where the questions were to be submitted via the comment section as well.

I guess, it is a stay tuned (ha ha ha, bad pun) to see what happens on Thursday. But it does look as if something will be offered on Friday! :)

February Alton Brown event

Attention folks in the eastern Pennsylvania area, Alton Brown will be doing a fund-raising event for the Indian Creek Foundation. Thanks to Heather, the fantastic Development Coordinator at the agency, for giving us the scoop on the big show. Here's a little blurb about the show from Heather:

Alton will be performing a live cooking demonstration, sharing stories and clips from his shows and taking questions from the audience. The event will be held at Calvary Church in Souderton, PA. Proceeds from the event support Indian Creek Foundation’s programs for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Ticket costs are $50 for adults, $25 for students (up to age 18) and $140 for a Family Four Pack (two adult and two student tickets). For the ultimate fan there are two options this year. Indian Creek Foundation will host a meet-and-greet prior to the event starting at 6pm, this exclusive engagement will allow you to get up close and personal with Alton. Tickets for the meet-and-greet, which cost $150, include access to a private heavy hors devour buffet, and preferred seating at the event. Also for $75 you can purchase a ticket with preferred seating for the event. For your $25 tax-deductible donation, this ticket will ensure that you have seating in the front of the venue.

For more information or to purchase tickets visit www.indcreek.org or call 267-203-1500 x303.

We anticipate huge crowds so make sure to reserve your tickets early!

I am very excited about this since it happens around my birthday. *wink, wink*

**photo taken from the organization's website for the event**

Alton Brown's Salt 101

Thanks to some intel from a Twitter buddy @kentcarmichael, I have discovered a fabulous video featuring Alton Brown and Diamond Crystal Salt.

The video features AB discussing salt in the kitchen and the lab. It is also classic AB wit and teaching. And check out the tweed suit, with arm patches and the bow tie. So nerdy it is cool.

Check out the fun at www.salt101.com

Alton Brown's YouTube event

The event with Alton Brown on YouTube will have a Q&A section. The Holiday Solutions page at YouTube from Target (ah, corporate sponsorship) allows people to submit a question in the comments section of their a channel.

Head over there, Holiday Solutions, and ask AB something about Thanksgiving. If I use my username, All About Alton, would he automatically toss that question out? ;)

Alton Brown's new Welch's ad

I finally caught the new Welch's ad with Alton Brown. Thanks to leaving the TV tuned to Food Network after watching the two Thanksgiving related Good Eats episodes Saturday night, I saw the ad three times during Unwrapped!

I wanted to get a quick version up, so here's a little copy. I'll try to get a better one later.

Miso like Alton Brown

Since I was so inspired by Alton Brown in the newest Good Eats episode, "Turning Japanese," Friday I made a little jaunt to a local Asian market. In the downtown area of the small town where I work, there's an Asian market. I haven't a clue as to why this little town of a population barely over 13,000 has this awesome place, but I an so glad it does.

The market opened about two years ago and I've shopped there several times. A couple of times I've gone just to stroll the aisles, although its not a big store it is very fun to look at the different items.

But this time I had a game plan and shopping list. Promptly after work, I headed down and hoped everything needed was available.

Since I had been there before and scoped the items, I knew the odds were good to find everything. I have purchased miso paste before, so that was easy to locate. The noodles and rice were all together, so I scanned the shelves and found the buckwheat noodles without problem. Another item I had purchased there in the past was rice wine vinegar, so the mirin was quickly located as well.

I knew they sold nori but wasn't sure about kombu. This was my first stumbling block. I stood there for a moment trying to figure out what was needed and what to buy. As AB told us, the the vast majority of items were in Japanese with very little or no English on them at all. Those foreign characters sharing back at me made my head swim. I could locate a bag of something that looked like the type of seaweed Alton used. But I found was strips of seaweed, not sheets. The seaweed did have the white stuff on it and an image on the back of the bag had a stockpot. I figured, that would be it and put in my stash. Fingers crossed.

The last item to find was the fish flakes or bonito flakes. Again I was a little puzzled about where this would be located in the store. I searched around and saw a row of bagged things. Again, I had to use visuals to find it. The bag I picked up looked to have fish flakes. That was it and I had located it all. I get my tofu at Kroger of all places! So it was a great success.

Oddly enough, I have trouble locating some of the items AB uses in his regular ol' "American"recipes at times but these unusual items were easy to procure.

A big tip... if you go on your very own Asian market quest be prepared to use your eyes to find your goodies.

Now, to the cooking! :)

Alton Brown teaches us Japanese cuisine

Monday night's new episode is a clear example of why I greatly admire Alton Brown. The episode, "Pantry Raid XII: Turning Japanese," looked into different cuisine, gave information about the basics of that cuisine, had much humor and, as often the case and why AB is on a pretty high pedestal in my kitchen, it inspired me to try something different and outside of my normal day-to-day cooking mindset.

I am an admirer of Asian cuisines; therefore, take great interest in learning how to make these dishes myself. It is also fortunate that there is an Asian market locally and I have seen some of the items Alton discussed in the show. So that greatly added to the inspiration coming from the episode. One of the elements of Good Eats that I love is how Alton transfers his enthusiasm to the viewer. I've received many sparks to go cook a new dish thanks to Alton and this show was no exception.

On my list, the miso soup. I did not know how very simple it is to create. I was excited to see from the packaging on the tofu AB used looked to be the exact brand I use! Yay! The miso glaze for the fish also caught my attention, I my make that before the miso soup. The other intriguing item, the noodle soup. I've had some tasty udon soup before; however, it contained skittake mushrooms and my throat paid the price for that mistake. With help from AB, now I can have my own version! Truthfully, all of the items presented in the episode looked interesting and things I will try. Turning Japanese is correct!

This episode opened a many possibilities to expand culinary knowledge and to become familiar with a new cuisine enough to prepare it at home, that alone is enough to place it high on the list of favorite episodes. But there's more. The best part of the show was the homage to the Saturday Night Live samurai skit, at least I think AB was doing that in the episode. It was just an added bonus to why Good Eats is more than a plain ol' cooking show! On the humor level, this was one of best episodes in recent memory thanks to the awesome samurai skit and Bart Hansard who was just great as the samurai. His characters are also great, but this may have been his finest.

The other cool thing about the episode, AB using he iPhone as a timer. My goodness why haven't I thought of that! I do download recipes on my iPod touch and take it to the kitchen instead of printing, but the thought of using the timer escaped me... until now. Thanks AB for another great idea.

I was surprised, however, no reference to Godzilla (or those type of movies) from Alton in the show. Being a film geek and all, and having referenced them in the past, I was certain AB would break out a monster destroying Tokyo. ;)

The recipes are available on Food Network, here, so we can all get cracking on making these new dishes. I know, Friday after work I'll be heading to the local Asian market in town to get the supplies.

I would say Seven Samurai for the episode, but my rating only goes to five and only film geeks would get the joke probably ;) So I'll give AB five samurai swords for making Japanese cuisine accessible to us, for inspiring Western cooks to make these wonderful dishes and having a lot of fun doing it.

Alton Brown in the vineyard

The latest ad from Welch's featuring Alton Brown is, apparently, on the air but I have yet to see one. However, this little print add will be popping up in December.


I can't say AB's push for the grape made me drink it more or at all. While I do love concord grapes and juice I stayed clear. Maybe this time... ;)

Read more about the ad campaign over at AdWeek

Awesome Alton Brown giveaway

Much excitement to announce! For all of you great readers and fellow Alton Brown fans, I decided to up the ante, so to speak, with the fansite and blog. I'm going to use a hosted site via Wordpress and a real url to get to the blog! No more el cheapo, free site! Yay!

If you want to take a peek into the future, head over to http://www.altonbrownfans.com/ to ogle the new digs.


However, I will not be abandoning this site, free or not, the new site will need some time to grow and get picked up in search engines, etc. I have tons of work ahead. Plus I'm combating spammers right now :( Until things are smooth and clear-- sure, right, uh huh--everything will be posted on both sites, double trouble I suppose.

But check out the new site because there is much coolness over there and I think you'll enjoy.

While you're there, consider signing up for the community and procure your favorite username for making comments. Its pretty sweet, one of the reasons I'm switching to Wordpress, you can set up an avatar and I have a place for forum discussions. Check it out -- http://www.altonbrownfans.com/community/



Now to the rest of the excitement. To celebrate the new home for the blog, I have a mighty fine set of Good Eats DVDs, All in a Day's Eatin' collection, up for grabs. Actually I have two to giveaway. The collection includes:

Disc 1: Morning Munchables

•Crepe Expectations
•The Waffle Truth
•House of the Rising Bun

Disc 2: Flat Out Tasty

•Flat is Beautiful II
•Flat is Beautiful III
•Cubing a Round

Disc 3: Tasty Toppings

•Mayo Clinic
•Hittin' the Sauce
•The Case for Butter



*** The Rules ***

Go over to the new blog and the post on the giveaway. I'll even make it easy for you by linking it here.



**Post a comment about one of the episodes in the set, the recipes from the recipes, why you need to this this DVD collection or what makes you an AB or Good Eats fan. You are entered, that easy!

Want extra chances to win?
Okay!

** If you have a blog--link to the contest post on the new blog, then make another comment with your post's link in the comments section and you'll get five extra entries!

** If you Twitter--do a tweet and include my username @altonbrownfan so I can find your tweets. You can do that up to five times for one extra entry per tweet. Post a link to your tweet in the comments under the username you are using for the contest.

In theory, an ultra social media geek could score 11 entries. ;)

So post, tweet, blog up until 11:59 p.m. November 11. I'll announce the winners the very next day!

Good Luck and Good Eats!

Alton Brown live on You Tube

According to Alton Brown's website on Thursday, November 19 at 7:30 p.m. he will be streaming a live video on his "10 Things I Know About Food."

Mark your calendar, if you haven't seen this. I'll probably watch just for the entertainment value. :)

Alton Brown at the White House

An upcoming episode of Iron Chef America featured a culinary challenge at the White House of all places. Apparently White House veggie garden was too much for Alton Brown, in the article it says he took a spill into the turnip patch. Oh the jokes running through my head!

Read the article from the New York Times on ICA here.

Alton Brown gets fishy

Monday night another new Good Eats premiers. This week Alton Brown talks about trout. From the recipes posted on Food Network's site, the type of trout will be the sustainable rainbow variety.

Also, from the recipe AB will be smoking some fish! I sure hope he breaks out the Army surplus box smoker from his Opryland demo thins year. Sans the embarrassing question I posed that lead to Alton making an innuendo that turned me red.

Hot Smoked Trout, Rollmops, Escabeche of Trout will be covered in the episode "Once and Future Fish."

It is sort of exciting being able to see AB make this stuff before it aired. This is second time that has happened. In the 2007 Opryand demo, he made marshmallows and later than year the marshmallow show aired.

Remember to watch at 8 p.m. Eastern.