In the chaotic kitchen of a recipe developer, you get a food blog called FoodMayhem.
I'm Jessica, an Asian-American, born and raised in NYC, and that's Lon, my Jewish, white husband. While professionally trained as a French culinary- and pastry chef, many of FoodMayhem recipes are my attempt to preserve and share authentic Chinese and Taiwanese recipes learned from my mom. We don't eat Chinese food every day, so you'll get a little bit of anything we find delicious enough to share: from our Eastern European side; recipes and techniques learned from my restaurant days; restaurant reviews, food travel tips; and a few other juicy bits along the way. Welcome to FoodMayhem!
Conde Naste is closing Gourmet Magazine!
I just felt compelled to make a recipe, with the magazine flipped open on the counter, letting anything splash on it that may, the way I started cooking. I ended up at the last few pages of the March 2003 edition, looking at this simple Olive Caper Relish. It’s so simple, easy, and quick to make, yet I don’t think I would have thought of it on my own. I will miss these inspirations but I’m glad I have the whole stack of old magazines to cherish.
A long time ago I worked in south Brooklyn (Sheepshead Bay) in the back of a charity, in a small room that barely fit me and Theresa, a hardcore Italian-American. She was a great person, but had a harsh (typical Brooklyn) personality; she had a raspy voice and didn’t take BS from anyone; especially about “gravy” vs. “sauce”. If you’re thinking “gravy” is something brown you pour over steak, move on, you’re not ready for this.
Theresa explained that a tomato-based sauce without meat in it (like marinara), is “sauce.” If it contains meat, then it is not a “sauce” it’s “gravy.” So what is the premier gravy? Ragu. (p.s. I do not agree with her assessment, this is sauce). Also, this is another checkpoint, if you think I might be referring to the bottled sauce, you are on the wrong web site.
While talking to my mom on the phone earlier today, she asked what I was up to. I said, “Just making some pasta.” Mom asked, “Fresh pasta?” And I said, “Yea, I’m making some herb parpadelle for Jessica.” “Oh funny,” Mom said, “I just saw Joanne Weir making something like that on TV.” Not so weird, I replied. I saw the same show and that’s what inspired me. Actually, the show was a bit bizarre. The interaction between the older Weir and the younger guy she was teaching was just weird. First, he seemed like a male bimbo, a mimbo. And she was half-brooding and half-cougaresque. Getting past the oddity, the dishes looked delish.
One of the dishes we made for our Mother’s Day spectacular was purely inspired by the season. It’s ramps season, and since it’s such a short season, we find it imperative to do something with them during this period.
In preparation for our upcoming Grilled Cheese extravaganza, we need some awesome mustard. As you may know from reading Jessica’s bio, she loves mustard. And at the moment we probably have six or eight different store-bought mustards at home.
Our first year anniversary is coming up (June 1st!), so perhaps that is conjuring themes of romance and memories of our honeymoon.
One of the best moments of our honeymoon had to be sitting at Sunset Taverna, dining by the bay (three feet from it) in Santorini, Greece, and enjoying the best lobster pasta dish either of us ever had.
Inspired by a recipe for Wine-Braised Lamb Shanks on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives (prepared at Giusti’s Place), I created this recipe for lamb shanks. A little bit of spice and acid go a long way in my version. Their idea to serve the lamb with sauced, wet polenta inspired me to serve with a grilled polenta cake.
Since we had some pork fat left over from trimming pork loin recently, I wanted to make sausage. Jessica defrosted a chicken and it seemed like a fun protein to work with. Having never made chicken sausage, I approached it the same way I would with most any other protein. I did go light on the herbs and spices because chicken is such a light flavor that you don’t want to over-power it.
Justin really enjoyed the Bacon-Wrapped Scallops last month, so for his birthday (another post with more about his birthday dinner coming up), we had to improve upon those! We picked up some plump tiger prawns and got to work. Our plan was to wrap them in thin bacon, and deep fry them with a panko crust. Instead of a sauce, we came up with a flavorful slaw to accompany the dish.
