A Night in Florence

Last week I had the opportunity to meet the ultimate chef, Tyler Florence.  He was giving a cooking demonstration, A-ing Qs like the old Food 911 days- all while we were sampling the food and drinking wine.  Other than the cookbooks I bought to be signed, it was a free event, which made it even better.

He's really a nice guy.  When approached by a woman thinking he was 'some other food network guy' he kept composure- unlike myself.  Who waits in line for an hour to see someone they can't recognize?  At least the amateurs have full wallets.  Tyler also did a great job of directly answering questions, and having answers I had not heard before.  For instance, a common scenario we all encounter, is buying a Ladies looking at Tyler & Men looking at hambunch of fresh herbs for a recipe that calls for a tablespoon.  Fresh herbs are expensive and wasting them sucks.  The response is to treat fresh herbs like flowers- that's what they are after all!  Cut off the bottom of your fresh herbs like you would flowers and stick in a jar of water.  Brilliant!  He also confirmed for me that it's perfectly acceptable to sear meats in my non-stick pans.  This makes me happy.  

Tyler also knows all of our dirty secrets- "I've been to your house.  I know what's in your cabinet."  There's no fooling the old Food 911 host.  He does a great job of relating to the audience because of his experience.  He's seen first hand how horrible we are.  This has made him an excellent author and teacher over the years.

Another quick rant about audience members- I was sitting next to a lovely couple who were 'really big'  Tyler fans that just blew my ear off about him.  They praised the idea of how great his restaurant must be and how they were planning to go sometime soon.  Everyone, Tyler doesn't have a restaurant.  I didn't feel bad bursting their bubble.  Then, the greatest treachery was committed when the [free] wine arrived:

"I hope that isn't Merlot.  Tyler would never serve his guests Merlot.  He's much more of a Pinot guy."

I was flabbergasted.  The cyclone of emotions tearing through could not be contained.  She was one of them.  I took a deep breath, regained composure.  I queried her knowledge of Sideways.  "I LOVE THAT MOVIE!  Like, I've seen it a million times!"  That's what I thought.  More proof that they are out there.

Buy my book!Other notes of worthyness include Tyler's new baby food company, Sprout.  It will be starting in Texas and then going nation-wide a year later.  Tyler is incredibly passionate about healthy, organic foods and feeding family properly.  He took a fun detour to educate us on how the US is the only country that allows genetically modified [GM] food.

I picked up both of his new books, Dinner At My Place and Stirring The Pot.  Stirring The Pot has two chapters- the kitchen and cooking.  The kitchen explains organization and hardware while cooking is then split up by cooking techniques- a lot of unconventional wisdom.  I like it.  Dinner At My place is his collection of recipes for family and friends.  There is even a chapter devoted to baby food.  Having a collection of organic recipes to make little ones is great- most even double as a canape.  I've been caught numerous times thumbing through the book, stopping, really liking a recipe, then looking at the bottom of the page to find it's in the 'Baby in the Kitchen' section.  That chapter alone is invaluable to a certain demographic.  As you would expect from Tyler, both books have a large breadth of recipes in great detail.  Something for everyone.

 

Comments

[Aashay Desai]

Awesome post dood, but I'd consider tweaking that title a bit...once I figured out it was Tyler Florence and not Florence Italy it kinda made me go X_X. You get the idea. Olo.