Alton Brown talks gumbo, seafood in the Gulf

Thanks to a little visit from Alton Brown, the second annual Dauphin Island Gumbo Cookoff tripled attendance over the inaugural event last year. No doubt having a top-notch food TV personality on the island increased awareness for the community event and brought many folks to the quaint beach town who normally would have never known of the place or thought to visit it, especially after news reports of gloom and doom for the Gulf region last summer.

While gumbo headlined the palates of many visitors and residents, AB used the time to discuss sustainable seafood, an issue he's passionate about, and how the Gulf region is a great supplier of seafood for the US.

Before the day's festivities, Alton spent some time talking with the contestants about their gumbo, posing for photos and signing books. As luck would have it, in trying to track down my media pass for the event early that morning I took the two-minute drive over to the cookoff locale several hours before the official start. While there guess who was also milling about?

None other than Mr. Brown, decked out in Mardi Gras beads, and talking with people getting ready for the cookoff. Thanks to my quasi-insider status I followed AB around snapping some candid moments before the cookoff.

Alton Brown inks new contract with FN

After a long drive home from Dauphin Island, Ala. and seeing Alton Brown again, I have a load of photos to go through before relaying the details back to everyone. In the meantime, news of AB's contract with Food Network came out today. I'm kicking myself got not asking on Saturday but I felt maybe it wasn't really any of my business, even if I do this site and his fans are very interested in knowing about his status with FN.

The good news is that AB and FN have an agreement for another three years. It appears he will only be doing three hour-long Good Eats specials for Thanksgiving then working on some new project. He retains his commentator role on Iron Chef America and host for another season of The Next Iron Chef. Of course, that's sad news for everyone who loves Good Eats. But wonderful news that Alton will still be a major presence with network for the next three years.

I can say as both a Good Eats fan and an AB fan, I'm sad to see it end but know he will give us more great TV. I loved the Feasting on Asphalt/Waves shows as much as GE. I loved his books, the non-GE ones, very much.

While I started and came to know of him through GE, I'm now his fan in addition to a fan of the shows and books. Therefore, I cannot wait to see the new show and know Alton will still teach us and entertain us in whatever the new form will be. Much luck and success in the new venture Alton!

I just wish there were a way I could, somehow, work for his new project. That would be a dream job to end all dream jobs for me.

As for the weekend event, here's a photo to hold everyone over until later.

Alton Brown nominated for James Beard Award

A big congradutions goes out to Alton Brown for being nominated for Best TV Food Personality by the James Beard Foundation. The awards will be handed out in early May in New York City.

AB is up against Bobby Flay and Duff Goldman, so in my mind its an easy win for him. Last year he was nominated in the same category but lost, sadly, to Andrew Zimmern. AB also emceed the event. So let's take a walk down memory lane and revisit the wonderful video my friend, Anne, got from talking to the owner of D S Simon Productions while watching people on the red carpet.











I can't wait to personally congratulate AB on Saturday. :)

News and Notes

This week promises to be one of those long drawn out spans of time, not just because it's Spring Break week and I have to work day shift but because at week's end I'll be heading south to Alabama to see Alton Brown for the Dauphin Island "Good Eatin'" event. The event is sold out, and it is wonderful to see success for organizers and folks benefiting.

However before I set off (and probably will not want to return from the warmth and seafood of the Gulf Coast) there are some housekeeping items to address.

First, the winner of the AB signed Good Eats 2 book is Bob Allenbrand. Bob's comment:

He says "Thusly" at least once per episode. It cracks me up. If there were a Good Eats drinking game it should be in it.

It was the luck of the draw for Bob, but thusly makes me laugh too. ;) Enjoy the book!

Speaking about the book, it won About.com's Reader's Choice Awards for best cookbook in 2010. I think we played a big hand in getting it nominated and the win!

Of course a new episode airs tonight in the beastly 11:30 p.m. time slot. This will be a challenge for me to watch since I'm getting up at the butt crack of dawn this week. It does, however, look like an interesting episode with three versions of chicken pot pie. Wondering if these apps will beat the curry chicken pot pie from "Casserole Over" episode, which turned this chicken pot pie hater into a major chicken pot pie lover.

As for the event on Saturday, I will try my best to tweet live(@altonbrowngeeks) from the gumbo cook off and VIP event. I don't know about photos for the VIP event, like last time with the "blackout" but I will bring everyone what I can to make those of you too far away feel like you're there as well. I am hoping the gumbo cookoff will yield lots of good photos and stories.

As the cliche goes, stay tuned...

Alton Brown Offers Chocolately Goodness in Cake Form

I don't know about you, or Alton Brown, but in my opinion red velvet cake should be the one with the evil moniker not the luscious chocolate goodness of Devil's Food. I've never cared much for red velvet, thinking it has nothing in the way of flavor or chocolateness. So there is high hope for the next installment of Good Eats on Monday, March 14 because if anyone can improve or convince me to give the vile red velvet cake a second chance, it would be AB.

The two questions I am pondering, however, aren't about the food to but the production of the show. One, will Lucky reappear as the Devil? He was great as Old Scratch in the Tamale episode. Secondly, will there be a Steel Magnolias reference to the armadillo cake?

We'll only know for sure by watching. Remember the new episode airs at 11:30 pm (EST), after that new dimwit show about ice carving. I refrain from hopping on my soapbox and whining about the brilliance behind that show... for now.

Recipes are available on Food Network's site, yay!

Remember: New Episode and Get an Alton Brown Signed Book

In the new Good Eats tonight at 11 p.m. (one thing I know, someone is smiling me because Good Eats is airing at 11 p.m. so I CAN see it live after work. I was worried before) Alton Brown will discuss the wonders of the chickpea. From the applications listed on Food Network's website it looks to be jam packed with things to do with the little legume. Check here for the full list.

AB mentioned hummus being in the show at his demo in Cleveland. I do enjoy his Turbo Humus from the first bean episode. Looking forward to falfel and the roasted chickpeas.

And if you haven't entered, remember sign up to win a signed copy of Good Eats 2: The Middle Years. There's still two more weeks to go!

Win a signed copy of Good Eats 2! #winning (sorry, I had to do it :P )

Angry Cows, Chalkboards, Alton Brown and Another Shameless Plug

Chalkboards are synonymous with teaching and learning and just about as common to see somewhere near Alton Brown; whether that's on TV or at one of his demos. It just wouldn't be right if a huge ol' slab of slate and a stick of calcium sulfate weren't somewhere in the vicinity of Alton pontificating, in fact he quipped at Cleveland's Fabulous Food Show that he traveled with a chalkboard, a leftover fetish of childhood. He's even been spotted in New York City with one during last year's NY Wine and Food Festival.

Most of the demos I've attended, AB has broken into drawing molecules, illustrations and meat maps, going so far as drawing his "angry cow" meat map (seen below) to liven up his Cleveland demo. On Good Eats, no episode is complete without getting a look at what is drawn on the refrigerator's chalkboard door or when the old, squeaky board rolls in frame.


Chalkboards and learning about food and cooking go hand in glove, in my mind at least. So when I recently scored a chance to teach a cooking class for my county's parks and recreation departments, one of the first comments I made to mom was "I need a chalkboard."

Yeah, I'm that warped.

The room were I'll be teaching the classes has a mighty fine kitchen set up, better than my home kitchen, but lacking in the classroom end of things. After checking out my class' digs, I rattled on about what I would be doing for the sessions and what I'd need. Chalkboard came up and my Mom immediately said she had chalkboard on an easel. Mom's countless yard sale and church rummage sale ventures always pay off eventually.

Lo and behold, she did have a chalkboard. A chalkboard on legs no less. A perfect, albeit small, replica of the Good Eats chalkboard! The only thing missing were wheels (oh and the squeaky sound effects). I gave the board a test run buy drawing the most appropriate image I could think of...

An angry Cow mini me.

Its a little short and the board itself isn't as wide, so no posing like AB did with his board. It will, however, help me teach my students something about cooking techniques, food and maybe I'll throw in a fun illustration as well.

One small step to becoming the next AB or Julia Child, after all she started by teaching classes while living in France.

If you're in the Charleston - Huntington, W.Va. area and would like to attend my class or know someone who would be interested, drop me a line at lisa@allaboutalton.com. The classes start in April. The room is small so I'm maxing out the class at 15 people. And I hope to get that many so I can gloat that my class outsold Sandra Lee's demo slated for Charleston back in 2009. Seems Aunt Sandy canceled a charity event because she only sold 14 tickets. I know more people would like to learn cooking from an AB wannabe anyway, so I'm sure to pack them in. ;)

March may be a slow posting month as I extrapolate all of the cooking info and recipes from my brain. That, I have discovered, is one of the more difficult things about this journey thus far, taking what I've been cooking for years sans recipes and making it approachable to beginners. Something else I'd love to talk with AB about someday. Perhaps when I trade in the not-for-profit food writing for the bright lights and fame of TV cooking he'll think I have the cred to chat it up with him and we can talk about some of those things I've yearned to discuss on a deeper level than a few minutes at a book signing.

Until then, I'll be a little sardine in a little pond trying help people understand more about what's going on in the kitchen and how to make a decent meal for their families while passing on my passion of cooking.