The White House kitchen, run by
Cris Comerford, certainly created a holiday feast fit for a king (or president). Cris is the first female chef to hold the position. Here’s what was served at the buffet:

Artisanal and Local Cheeses served with Crackers, Winter Fruits and Spiced Nuts
Chilled Gulf Shrimp Cocktail served with Cocktail Sauce and Remoulade
Bourbon-Glazed Virginia Ham served with Cheesy Stone-Ground Grits
Crispy Chicken-Fried Steak Fingers with Creamed Pan Drippings
Roasted Lamb Chops with Rosemary Sea Salt with Mission Fig Chutney and Mint Jelly
Fruitwood Smoked Copper River Salmon served with Fresh Potato Pancakes and Traditional Garnitures
Maryland Crab Cakes with Lemon Caper Sauce
Orzo Salad with Roasted Artichokes, Tomatoes and Olives with Feta Cheese Vinaigrette
Homemade Tamales with Roasted Poblanos and Vidalia Onions with Black Beans and Tomatillo Sauce
White and Green Asparagus and French Green Bean Tier with Garlic Aioli
Barney and Miss Beazley Cookies (Chocolate-Dipped with Gold Collars)
Decorated Animal Cookies (Grizzly Bear, Elk, Fox, Wolf, Eagle, Mountain Lion,
Moose, Road Runner, Buffalo, Coyote, Deer)
Park Trees and Leaves Cookies (Gold Magnolia Leaf, Pine Cone, Acorn, Oak Leaf, Aspen Leaf, Elm Leaf)
Maple Cookies
Park Arrow Head Cookies
Long-Stemmed Fresh Strawberries
Orange-Spiced Infusion with Mixed Tropical Fruits and Berries
Chocolate Truffles with Forest Flavors (Honey, Maple, Huckleberry)
Chocolate Mice
Log Cabin Cake (Chocolate Dolly Sin Cake, Chocolate Buttercream Frosting)
Lemon Meringue Sequoia Cake Tree
Coconut Cake with Seven-Minute Frosting
Yule Log – Bûche de Noël
Brioche Bread Pudding
Walnut Pound Dundee Cake
Gingerbread Crown Cake
Mackintosh Apple and Sun-Dried Cherry Cobbler

Now, how exactly does one get invited to these things???

Chef Jody Adams personifies the ease of being a great chef through the use of available resources found in your kitchen today. Being a good cook is a given with practice, but with more practice and a touch of imagination at that, good chefs are sure to arise. This has been one of the beliefs that have catapulted Chef Jody towards mastering the art of cooking.

Cooking in the eyes of Chef Jody would simply be like following instincts rather than the usual traditional cooking practices that people see on television or from reading the available cookbooks in stores today. It all boils down to following a cooking style which would carve out your name in the genre of food that a person would want to cook up.

This is the secret that Jody Adams shares as her ultimate success in cooking. With a wide array of recipes that includes starter meals, seasonal prepared meals and Italian tradition meals such as pasta until deserts, Chef Jody has a long list of recipes all based on her instincts and what she can do around the kitchen. People can do this as well if they know how to go around the kitchen of their homes as well.

Technorati Tags: chefs, jody adams, italian, deserts, seasonal

There are so many celebrity chefs and so many TV programs on the air nowadays that it can be hard to choose which ones to tune in to. A family for our family is the Barefoot Contessa. She is such a wonderfully elegant yet appealingly normal person, rather like we’d all like to be. She’s the perfect host and yes, her recipes are delicious and easy to make. You can make great dishes simply by following along as she tells you what to do from the TV screen.

One of the most interesting things about Ina Garten is that growing up, she wasn’t even allowed to be in the kitchen. For those viewers who’ve never been in the kitchen before, take heart. Just look at where Ina Garten is now and you’ll be inspired too - she had a successful restaurant which she later sold to her employees and still has quite a successful online food business aside from her TV shows.

Ina Garten gives very clear, simple instructions. Just make sure to listen well since she has a rather soft voice. Try her Grilled Lemon Chicken Skewers With Satay Dip. The recipe below is coutersy of the food network and is truly delicious!

3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (4 lemons)
3/4 cup good olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves, or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, halved and skin removed
Satay Dip, recipe follows

Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme. Pour over the chicken breasts in a nonreactive bowl. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 6 hours or overnight.

Heat a charcoal grill. Grill the chicken breasts for 10 minutes on each side, until just cooked through. Cool slightly and cut diagonally in 1/2-inch-thick slices. Skewer with wooden sticks and serve with Satay Dip.

Satay Dip:
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
2/3 cup small-diced red onion (1 small onion)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons good red wine vinegar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice

Cook the olive oil, sesame oil, red onion, garlic, ginger root, and red pepper flakes in a small, heavy-bottomed pot on medium heat until the onion is transparent, 10 to 15 minutes. Whisk in the vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, peanut butter, ketchup, sherry, and lime juice; cook for 1 more minute. Cool and use as a dip for Grilled Lemon Chicken skewers.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups

A lot of cooks would agree that the use of wine in some meals have added a certain spice in making them sought after. Such can be attributed towards the contributions of Chef John Ash, an internationally recognized chef, educator and author. His continued work and application of wine towards cuisine and his evident mastery for winery has been his obvious trademark that has brought him towards world wide prominence.

John is known to hold various classes and teaches culinary schools and institutions with regards to the tricks of the proper use of wine for culinary meals. Majority of his known reliability has been attributed towards the wine industry and such has been something that has continued to push him up towards fame and fortune.

He has published two books, namely American Game Cooking in 1991 and From the Earth to the Table: John Ash�s Wine Country Cuisine in 1996. The latter book was awarded the Julia Child Award for Best Cookbook in 1996 by the International Association of Culinary Professionals.

Technorati Tags: wine, cuisine, recipes, game, birds, culinary

Cooking is best practiced if it has been something that was experienced from the start especially during childhood. Such is the story of one of the glamorous personalities to grace TV cooking shows in the mold of Silvana Franco. Franco trained as a chef at High Peak College in Buxton and obtained a degree in Home Economy at South Bank University.

Silvana started out writing for BBC Worldwide in its Vegetarian Good Food Magazine. She made this her cup of tea until she was elevated to a senior writer. She soon graced the TV sets for such shows as Gourmet Express 2, Ready Steady to Cook and Two�s Saturday Kitchen. But despite her continuous rise to stardom, she never let go of her writing which include that of Can�t Cook, Won�t Cook, Ainsley�s Big Cook Out and Friends for Dinner.

She also runs a food media company called Fork, proof of her continued love and loyalty in the field of cooking.

Technorati Tags: cookbook, chefs, tv shows, vegetarian

With a dozen best-selling cookbooks tucked under his belt, Jeff Smith, is best known for hosting the popular American cooking show that began in Washington. The show was aired in PBS from 1988 to 1997.

Smith was a United Methodist who graduated at the University of Puget Sound in 1962 and Drew University in 1965. His first run at food ventures was the Chaplain�s Pantry where he held cooking classes to the public and stored deli and kitchen supplies as well.

Being in the celebrity status that he is in the world of cooking, Smith has had his share of controversies as well. Legal issues concerning sexual harassment in the 70�s were just some of the trials that Smith had to go through.

Known to be the food genius that he is, Smith has authored several books under his wing including The Frugal Gourmet (1984), The Frugal Gourmet Cooks with Wine (1986), The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American (1987) and The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines: China, Greece, and Rome (1989).

Technorati Tags: cookbooks, jeff smith, frugal, gourmet

Chef Mary Berry started out as a broadcaster and is known to be one of the well-respected cookbook writers that the United Kingdom has produced. She is also known for her signature cakes which sold over 350,000 copies. Chef Berry typifies the role of a plain housewife who should know her way around the household, something that most of her avid viewers have followed in her shows over BBC.

Outside her evident signature trait of making extra ordinary cake recipes, she has also written over 40 cook books including The Aga Book. Her approach towards cooking is branded as family style emphasizing on healthy recipes that focus on fresh ingredients rather than cholesterol animal fats, something that most people of today are quite particular about. With her exposure on various TV shows, Chef Berry has gained headway and prestige, all through her continuous efforts through tri-media, including magazines that are bought worldwide.

Technorati Tags: cakes, pastries, housewife, household

Chef Ann has an incredible and impressive list of achievements and credentials in the course of her culinary career. Among these accomplishments include that of Chef of the Year awards and winning national American Culinary Federation awards.

Chef Ann Cooper works as an industry services consultant for the Culinary Institute of America, a corporate chef and as a consultant to various restaurant and hotels located around New England. Ann was among the first 50 women to be certified as an executive chef by the educational arm of the American Culinary Federation.

Chef Anne has also published a book titled “A Woman’s Place in the Kitchen” that narrates the vision of women and their role around the kitchen. It contains both traditional and innovative approaches that women have had in the field of cooking. She also authored another book, “The Sustainable Kitchen” that will surely make the grade and be a hot commodity among aspiring chefs of today.

Technorati Tags: cook books, chefs, celebrity chefs

Taking his cue from the family business Chef Cesare Casella enrolled at the Culinary Institute Ferdinando at the age of fourteen. After graduation, he applied his knowledge to their family restaurant which eventually became a famous regional destination spot. After some time, all of Chef Casella’s work had paid dividends, attracting various personalities who have acknowledged his fascinating dishes that have become a signature trademark for him.

His rise to stardom started to accumulate by the year as he was eventually named the Executive Chef of Coco Pazzo that produced sister restaurants Il Toscanaccio. But seeing that he should also find security for his talent, he opened his own New York Restaurant in 2001, Beppe and in Maremma in 2005.

He has also written three books, Diary of a Tuscan Chef, Italian Cooking for Dummies and True Tuscan. He has also appeared in various food networks where he showcases his unique style of cooking that has been acknowledged worldwide.

Technorati Tags: celebrity chefs, italian dishes, italian food

Celebrity chefs often gain fame from having a television show. The term celebrity chef is often seen as derogatory by those chefs who eaned their title through school and hard work. As we all know, it takes a lot of sweat and practice to be a professional chef, cooking for many people none of whom are related to you.

The show Iron Chef gives the celebrity chefs a chance to prove that they aren’t just for show. Iron chef show began in Japan and a spin off was later made called Iron Chef America. In both shows, there are preselected Iron Chefs. These chefs are masters at their craft. In the US, The Iron Chefs are Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto (who was also an Iron Chef in the show in Japan) and the first female Iron Chef, Cat Cora.

Every week a challenger comes forward. These are chefs with good reputations theselves in the cooking field. They choose which Iron Chef with whom to do battle and then they are given a secret ingredient which they must use in all their dishes.

It is a tough battle with only 30 minutes to make a full course meal. It challenges each chefs creativity and ability to the limit. It is also a great show because it shows that no true chef works in the kitchen alone. He has to have a great team - who themselves are great in their respective areas.

The question is: whose cuisine will reign supreme?