Play the Petrol Heads celebrity chef game! Match the chef to their car. So very funny!

Before Wolfgang Puck and Gordon Ramsay, there was… the Swedish chef!

Okay, so you can’t exactly learn how to make a souffle, but he’ll make you laugh. And sometimes laughter is the best appetizer you can have — especially on a Monday.

Did you know that Emeril Lagasse almost became a musician?

“I ended up turning down a full scholarship of music at the conservatory to pay to go to cooking school,” he said. “If you don’t follow your dream, who will?”

He still loves music, though. “Music is one of those things that is constantly going in my head all the time. It’s sort of like the evolution and creation of doing food, or my philosophy about wine. It’s always beating in my head, so it keeps the spirit moving.”

This is what Gordon Ramsay had to say after reading a press release that a Scotland hotel was making a deep fried sandwich of Nutella.

“I’m horrified. I mean, Christ! Seventy-five per cent of my staff are French. They look at me like I’m some sort of twat that my Scottish brothers are launching two slices of bread with a fucking inch of Nutella between them, battered and deep fat fried.

“Now what the fuck is this country coming to? What are we doing to ourselves? That has to be abolished. Here we are, progressing tenfold, buying the right bread, real croissants, we’re making fresh muesli and we understand what a great cup of coffee is. And then some idiot brings out a deep-fried chocolate sandwich.

“I want to find the bastard that put that idea together. I’ve got the most amazing charcoal grill in my new kitchen. I’m going to sit his butt on it and criss-cross my name on his bloody arse cheeks to remind him. Every time he wakes up in the morning he can gawp at his arse.

“Is he fucking stupid? When these things hit France, the French just have a field day laughing at us. So I’m looking for that scumbag. I’m going to fucking grill his arse. Brand him with a hot iron like a little calf or a lamb. I’m going to put Ramsayfied on his butt, so every time he wakes up in the morning, he thinks ‘Fuck! I shouldn’t have done that!”

Celebrity chefs can turn anything into a gourmet meal — even the lowly burger.
Of course, it comes with a gourmet price tag. The $5,000burger is made of Kobe beef, foie gras and black truffles, and served with a 1990 bottle of Chateau Petrus. (Or you can skip the wine and order the champagne cocktails with 24K gold flakes.)

Gee, wonder what kind of toy they give away with that? A diamond?

A sugar rush by any other name is just as sweet.

Well, maybe not. According to Steve Ettlinger’s book, Twinkie, Deconstructed there’s more to this snack than a toothache. The author combines humor and thorough reseach on this American icon. He conveniently avoids talking about health benefits (we all know there is none) but, like the Twinkie itself, sometimes we just need a lot of fun, useless reading.

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???

James Beard is considered the first ever celebrity chef. Test your knowledge of him (abd whether you can consider yourself a hardcore celebrity chef fan) with this quiz

Food and WIne magazine recently released the list of the best new chefs in the United States. These are the next generation chefs, in their mid-20s, and yet already showcasing brilliant talent and drive. Watch out for them!

Every year, WOlfgang Puck prepares the meal for the prestigious Oscars Governors Ball. Everybody who’s anybody is there. The ingredients must be perfect, the flavors perfectly orchestrated. After all, there are 1,500 celebrity guests there, and they will raise hell if the chicken is even the slightest overcooked.

Puck created a very elaborate menu
that included pizza with white truffles and kumamoto oysters. There were appetizer trays, tapas, sushi bar, seafood bar, buffet. Just a whole lot of food — and madness in the kitchen.

Consider the numbers;350 kitchen staff,6,000 Pieces of hand polished Flatware, and a really long shopping list:

500 Bottles of Laurent Perrier Champagne
2,000 Bottles of Sterling Wine
300 lbs. Smoked Wild Salmon
100 lbs. Natural Certified Angus Beef
600 ea. Spiny Lobster
10 lbs. French Farm Raised Osetra Caviar
250 Whole SMART Organic Chickens
16 lbs. Black Truffles from Perigord, France
10 lbs. White Truffles from Alba, Italy
15 Whole Yellowtails
150 lbs. Big Eye Tuna
25 ea. Thai Snapper
100 Dozen Kumamoto Oysters
100 lbs. Black Farm-Raised Mussels
150 lbs. Little Neck Clams, Farm Raised
300 lbs. Jumbo Shrimp
550 lbs. Snake River Farms Wagyu Beef (American Kobe)
25 Whole Wild Striped Bass