How to launch a food brand: Interview with Chris Cornyn from Supermarket Superstar

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Food marketing expert Chris Cornyn helps aspiring entrepreneur Patricia Kiernan design her label on Lifetime's Supermarket Superstar (photo: Adam Taylor)

Have you ever thought of taking your signature dish to supermarket shelves? Anyone ever told you that you should bottle your barbecue sauce, salad dressing, homemade jam?

[Raises hand.]

That's why I was so excited to talk with Chris Cornyn, founder of DINE Marketing, one of the country's premier food branding companies. Not only has DINE developed the brands and packaging for more than 2,000 different food products, but Chris is currently a mentor on Lifetime's new food reality show Supermarket Superstar, where aspiring food entrepreneurs compete to get their products manufactured and in front of grocery buyers. If anyone knows what it takes to make a food product successful, he does. Read and learn.

Erika: How long does a product have to get shoppers' attention?

Chris Cornyn: There's a lot of research on that. It takes somewhere between 2.5 and 3 seconds for a consumer to decide whether they're going to pick up a product - we call that "The Stop." If they pick it up, then generally they look at the label. That's "The Sell" - they look at the photo or illustration, the product if it's showing, and the information on the label to decide whether they want to buy it.

Erika: When the Supermarket Superstar contestants came in, how far along were they in their product development processes?

The Supermarket Superstar mentors: From left, Debbi Fields of Mrs. Fields Cookies, chef Michael Chiarello, and Cornyn, with program host Stacy Keibler (photo: Adam Taylor)

Chris Cornyn: All of them had an idea that they thought belonged on supermarket shelves. But none had thought out what we call "The 6 P's": product, positioning, packaging, production, profit, and promotion. I assume anyone who wants to get into the food business has a delicious product. But the other P's are what make the product work.

Erika: When you first meet the three contestants in each episode, they give you a short pitch. How much help did they get with that?

Chris Cornyn: I don't really know - that was the first exposure we three mentors had to the contestants. I heard some of the ideas and thought "That's a home run - just needs a little tweaking." Other people came in with unbelievable passion, conviction, and personality, but they didn't have the product to match.

Erika: What did you think of the guy who made snacks out of cricket flour [in the Natural Foods episode]?

Chris Cornyn: I was rooting for him because he's trying to change the world by making a sustainable protein that helps the planet. We're one of the only countries that doesn't eat insects - you can go down to Mexico and get some amazing cricket tacos. Is America ready to start eating bugs? Maybe not. But is he a trend-setter and thinking ahead? Absolutely.

Erika: In one episode the contestants made barbecue sauce. Does the world really need another barbecue sauce?

Chris Cornyn: Actually, a mature category like barbecue sauce is ripe for innovation. Consumers like to try new products, even if they're really similar to existing products, just because they're new. What about a barbecue sauce with an ethnic twist? Or a sustainable angle? Or a local style of sauce that's not as well known? There are ways to make everything new.

Erika: What trends do you see in food product labeling and packaging?

Chris Cornyn: The label should have as few ingredients as possible, and the easier they are to pronounce, the better. The package and label have to stand out in the product's category. I recommend that food entrepreneurs go buy every single product in their category and set them up like a grocery store shelf, then put their product in the middle and ask random people - not family and friends and neighbors - which ones they'd pick up.

Erika: Once you get your product made [and there's a whole manufacturing issue to deal with which doesn't get a lot of attention on the show - it's pretty technical], then you have to sell it. How does that usually happen?

Chris Cornyn: The most successful food entrepreneurs are the ones who go out and sell it themselves, often starting with small independent grocery stores or at farmers markets. They know the product and they have the passion - no hired gun broker or salesperson can replicate that passion. When you see entrepreneurs demoing their products in markets, that passion comes across both to consumers and to supermarket buyers.

Supermarket Superstar airs Monday nights on Lifetime. Check your local listings for channel and time.

Roast chicken thighs with blueberries and rosemary

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Chicken thighs with a sauce of fresh blueberries, white wine, balsamic vinegar and rosemary

[This post is sponsored by the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council.]

Fifteen years ago today, I was eating blueberries.

How do I know? Because 15 years ago today I was eight weeks pregnant with my older son, and all I craved during my first trimester were blueberries. I ate at least two pints of blueberries a day for the first three months of my pregnancy.

The Biggest Loser star Alison Sweeney and her family love blueberries too. Sweeney, who's working with the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council to spread the word about the healthy benefits of blueberries, answered a few questions recently about her family's blueberry habits:

Alison's favorite breakfast with blueberries: "Oatmeal + blueberries + agave nectar + cinnamon. There are only 80 calories in a cup of blueberries and it gives me fiber and vitamin C. And my kids love the flavor combo." 

Most unusual blueberry dish Alison's ever tasted: "Blueberries on pizza!"

Alison's pregnancy cravings: "Pickles. When I was pregnant I had to ask the deli counter if I could eat one while waiting for my sandwich, and another for after. Ellen (DeGeneres) even teased me about it by giving me a massive tub of pickles. It was hilarious."

(Okay, I realize her answer to the pregnancy craving question had nothing to do with blueberries. But I thought it was hilarious too!)

Most of the fresh blueberries I buy get washed and eaten out of hand, although occasionally I have some left over for baking (try the best blueberry muffins in the world). But I've been looking for ways to incorporate more blueberries into our meals. Turns out blueberries and chicken were meant for each other. Try this simple recipe combining roast chicken thighs, fresh blueberries, white wine, and rosemary - the sauce has a sweet-and-sour fruity tang my whole family loved.

Thanks to the Blueberry Council for sponsoring this post. My mother thanks the Blueberry Council too - she's been begging me for more chicken recipes. Opinions and recollections of pregnancy cravings contained within this post are, of course, my own. Follow the Blueberry Council on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube for more blueberry inspiration.

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Chicken thighs with blueberries and rosemary

by Erika Kerekes June-4-2013

Chicken and blueberries are a match made in heaven. The tangy sauce tastes delicious and looks beautiful drizzled over the crispy-skinned chicken thighs.

Ingredients

• 4 large chicken thighs (bone in, skin on)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 3/4 cup onion, diced (about 1/2 of a large yellow onion)
• 1 cup white wine
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
• 2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
• 3 cups fresh blueberries

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.Sprinkle the skin side of the chicken thighs generously with salt and pepper. Put a large oven-proof skillet on the stove over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the chicken thighs skin side down. Sear without moving at least 8-10 minutes, until the skin is a deep golden brown. Remove the chicken thighs from the pan and put them on a plate.Pour off all but 1 Tablespoon of the chicken fat in the pan, then add the butter and onion. Cook the onion about 4 minutes, until it is softened and starting to brown around the edges (if it cooks too fast, turn down the heat a little). Add the wine, vinegar, mustard, rosemary, and blueberries. Bring the blueberry mixture to a boil and let it cook about 10-15 minutes. The fruit will start to pop and the mixture should start to thicken and reduce - it won't be thick, but it shouldn't look incredibly watery.Put the chicken thighs back in the pan, skin side up this time, nestling them on top of the sauce. Try to keep the blueberry mixture off the chicken skin so the skin can crisp in the oven - if you bathe it now in the sauce it will taste good but the skin won't crisp and will turn out soft and rubbery.Put the skillet in the oven and roast the chicken for another 45 minutes. When the chicken is done, let it rest on the counter 5 minutes before serving. To serve, carefully remove the chicken thighs from the pan, put them on a platter, and drizzle the blueberry sauce around them and down the middle of each piece of chicken, leaving some of the crispy golden skin showing.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 1 hour 10 mins Total time: 1 hour 20 mins Yield: 4 servings

How Guy Fieri mixes cocktails for a crowd

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Celebrity chef Guy Fieri at the Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival

Is Food Network star Guy Fieri a chef or a rock star? It's hard to tell. The stage for his cooking demo at the Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival held both a stove and a DJ. There was cooking, but the hour was as much about the music as the food. Not exactly what I expected - but I've watched enough of him on TV not to be completely surprised.

When a big personality like Guy Fieri is on stage, the food takes a back seat to the showmanship. What did he cook? Avocado egg rolls, which he rolled up into a six-foot-long burrito. Shazam!

More importantly, Fieri mixed four different cocktails during that one-hour demo and made sure the audience got all four. No wonder they hooted and hollered, right? And there were no delicate cocktail shakers. He mixed his mojitos in an industrial-sized bucket and muddled the limes, sugar and mint with a baseball bat. Kapow!

Here, see for yourself - I snapped some video during the mixing of the first cocktail. Cooking demo or rock concert? You be the judge.

Cooking tips from Food Network chef Ming Tsai

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Me with TV chef Ming Tsai at the Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival

Those of you who have perused my celebrity chef posts might have concluded that I am a celebrity chef groupie.

Okay. It might be a little bit true. I rarely pass up an opportunity to go one-on-one with a famous chef. I'm still trying to figure out the formula: What makes some chefs so much fun to watch on TV? What does "star quality" mean for a chef?

This weekend at the Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival I sat through chef Ming Tsai's cooking demo. I've been watching him on PBS and Food Network for years. Guess what? Tsai is just as borderline geeky in person as he is on television. Which, frankly, makes me like him more. He's not a rock star wannabe like Guy Fieri. He's not pretentious. He's not super polished, either, even after all these years in front of the camera. You get the sense, watching him, that he's actually kind of nervous to be cooking in front of a live audience. Sweet.

Of course, he's learned to mug for the audience a little bit. I guess I wasn't as inconspicuous as I thought when I crouched down in the center aisle to take photos, because chef Tsai stopped what he was doing and struck a pose:

A good cooking demo always includes kitchen tips. Here are the tips I picked up from chef Tsai:

• Taste everything. "I've made this a million times," he said as he sipped the passionfruit mai tai he'd just mixed, "but I haven't made it today."
• If the pan gets too hot, pull it off the stove and wait a minute before adding oil. Smoking oil gives food a bitter taste.
• Rub crushed lemongrass stalks on your skin to keep bugs away.
• That fancy one-handed technique for tossing food without a spatula? It looks slick and it's easy. Practice in the backyard with a frying pan full of dry beans or uncooked rice.
• If your meat sticks to the pan, it's not done yet. Wait until it's fully seared and it will release itself.
• Eating spicy food? Pair it with wine that's got a hint of sweetness, like a Riseling, Viognier or Gewurtztraminer.
• Use kitchen tongs to squeeze the juice out of lemon or lime halves.
• Look for "naturally brewed" soy sauce, where the only ingredients are water, soybeans and the bacteria that ferments the mixture.
• Chef Tsai prefers cooking with canola oil because it's flavorless, has a high smoke point and is cheap.
• Want to get your kids to eat vegetables? Skip the steamed broccoli and saute it in garlic oil instead. "Kids love flavor," he said. "They'll eat vegetables if you make them taste good."

Chef Tsai's kids are about the same ages as my boys, so when I caught up with him after the demo I asked him what he likes to cook with his kids. Watch the video below for his answers!

Trufflepalooza in the Los Angeles Times

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Preparations for Trufflepalooza 2012 are well under way. Every plate I own is on the table, wiped clean, neatly stacked. Thanks to Sabatino Tartufi, my entire refrigerator smells like truffles. And I've spent the last 24 hours in the kitchen. I'm happy as a clam.

And then, just now, a little happier, when I saw the Los Angeles Times feature on Trufflepalooza that will be out in tomorrow's food section. Rene Lynch really captured the spirit of Trufflepalooza: not some fussy gourmet fest, but an annual tradition that's about making and eating good food with friends. Also, Anne Cusack managed to get a cute photo of me - not the easiest feat, even for a pro.

If you're here because you read the article, welcome! Some of the recipes mentioned in the article are on this blog. Click below to get to them.

• Radish and truffle butter tartines
• Filet mignon sandwiches with truffle butter
• How to make truffle butter

You might also be interested in my entertaining tips for large parties - cooking for 100 people requires a lot of planning, and thankfully I've learned a few things over the years.

Want to get all the recipes I share from my kitchen - healthy family fare, mostly, with a few decadent desserts thrown in - delivered to your email? Click the Subscribe button at the top right.

Cooking for the crowds at the DOLE 2012 California Cook-Off

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Writing this blog has led me to some really fun experiences, and this weekend was one of the best yet.

When DOLE asked if I'd be willing to sous chef for one of the three finalists in their 2012 California Cook-Off, I said yes before I'd even checked my calendar.

Chop and mince in front of a live audience at the Grove, one of the hottest shopping and strolling destinations in Los Angeles? Yes.

Cozy up to celebrity chef Ben Ford to talk pork, grilling and DOLE products? Oh, yes.

Help one of three home cooks turn out their recipe for the judges and compete for the grand prize? Heck yes.

Talk into the emcee's microphone to explain to the crowds what we're making? Yes, of course - you know how I love to talk.

The whole thing sounded like Erika Nirvana. I jumped at the opportunity.

Host Tom Lowe introducing chef Ben Ford's grilling demo

DOLE had lots of products on display and handed out samples to the crowd

The DOLE California Cook-Off recipe contest got hundreds of entries. The DOLE team narrowed it down to 20, then spent days taste-testing to pick the three finalists. Each finalist was paired with a local L.A. blogger assistant.

Michelle and Amelia

Michelle Wiederhold made Pineapple-Pork Quesadillas with Mandarin Crema. She was paired with blogger Amelia Winslow of Eating Made Easy.

Richard and Pamela

Richard Swanson made Banana Corn Crepes with Grilled Fruit and Ricotta. His partner: Pamela Braun of My Man's Belly. Notice that the two redheads ended up on the same team.

Jeanette with her Island Pork Sliders, ready for the judges

I was paired with Jeanette Nelson, a charming mother of three from Crab Orchard, West Virginia. Jeanette's been on the recipe contest circuit for a few years now; she'd been through this cook-off thing before. Jeanette's Taste of DOLE Island Pork Sliders with Pineapple Jicama Salsa were truly fabulous - ultra-juicy pork patties studded with DOLE pineapple and mango on a sweet Hawaiian roll, topped with a fresh crunchy salsa. The recipe will be up on the DOLE website soon - don't worry, I'll let you know. You'll definitely want to try making these at home.

Jeanette's Taste of DOLE Island Pork Sliders with Pineapple Jicama Salsa

Jeanette and I were both a bit nervous, but we'd planned every step of the recipe out carefully ahead of time and knew exactly who would be doing what. We were so organized we even had a few minutes to spare between taking the sliders off the grill and plating them. This actually helped us - letting the pork sliders rest covered in foil for a few minutes kept them nice and juicy.

All the dishes looked delicious, but when the verdict was in, Jeanette's pork sliders took the grand prize! I was thrilled for her. When emcee Tom Lowe asked Jeanette what she planned to do with her winnings, she said she would take her husband and three daughters on a beach vacation and use the rest to pay off debts. Tom loved her accent so much that he then made her sing "Country Roads" into the microphone for the whole crowd to hear - twice. She was a good sport about it both times, although I think she sang louder the second time (after she'd won).

So now I've gotten a taste of what it's like to cook for an audience...on the clock...and to have to be witty when a microphone gets stuck in my face as I'm wielding a sharp knife. I loved it. Next stop: Iron Chef!

Chef Robert Irvine talks avocados

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Food Network celebrity chef Robert Irvine with a fellow avocado lover in Universal City, CA

When I get an opportunity to chat with a celebrity chef, I grab it.

Yesterday Chef Robert Irvine, who stars in Food Network's completely addictive show Restaurant: Impossible, kicked off an 85-day "Add-vocado" campaign with Subway here in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the Subway where he was slinging subs was clear across town from my office. I couldn't get there on a work day, much as I would have liked to check out his legendary biceps in person.

But a polite request to Subway's public relations group got me an early morning phone call with the chef. I was bleary, but Chef Irvine, who had already finished his morning workout, was wide awake and firing on all cylinders. I asked him a slew of avocado-related questions, which I'd brainstormed the night before with Emery, my 13-year-old son and a huge Robert Irvine fan. Read on for Chef Irvine's answers, including off-the cuff recipes for an avocado martini and an avocado panna cotta.

A note to blogger friends about interviewing celebrities: You're only going to get a few minutes. Go in prepared. Know what you want to talk about and move the conversation there. Otherwise you'll get the prepared promotional comments from the press release - and that's boring for you, your audience and the celebrity.

(Interested in more of my celebrity chef encounters? Here you go: Giada De Laurentiis, Alice Waters, Curtis Stone, Scott Conant, Claire Robinson, Lucinda Scala Quinn)

That's one big avocado - almost as big as Robert Irvine's biceps

Erika: Why avocados?


Robert Irvine: Avocados are a great healthy food, with lots of vitamins and good fats. Why use mayonnaise on a sandwich when you can cream avocado with yogurt and spices and use that instead? Add avocado to a boring BLT and it's creamy and delicious.

Erika: You've pledged to eat avocado every day for 85 days. Do you have your menu planned out?

Robert Irvine: I don't. I travel 330 days a year and eat every two and a half hours - I'm a big guy. I always carry a fork, little bottles of spices, and Sriracha [hot sauce]. I eat what I feel like eating. I'll be documenting my 85 days of avocado on Twitter and recipes will be posted on the Subway Facebook page.

Chef Robert Irvine making "Add-vocado" sandwiches at Subway in Universal City, CA

Erika: You grew up in England. Did you ever have avocados as a boy?

Robert Irvine: No, never. I had my first avocado on a cruise ship; I was 14, traveling with the Sea Cadets, and I'd been raised on steak and kidney pie and fish and chips. I thought, what is this? The chef taught me about avocados and told me to add lime juice.

Erika: Have you ever climbed an avocado tree?

Robert Irvine: No.

Erika: Feel free to stop by my house and climb mine. My 10-year-old climbs it all the time. That's how we get the avocados at the top.

Robert Irvine: [Laughs] I'd love to!

Erika: What's your favorite way to eat an avocado?

Robert Irvine: Blend vanilla yogurt, mustard, sriracha, lime juice and paprika with avocado and layer it on bread. [I expressed skepticism about the vanilla yogurt.] Yes, vanilla yogurt. I make a sweet potato bread pudding with cinnamon Tabasco ice cream at my restaurant, and when people hear that they make the same noises you just did. Trust me. It's delicious.

Erika: What's the most gourmet avocado dish you've had?

Robert Irvine: Avocado souffle, served with onion chutney. It's the best thing I've ever had.

Erika: Where did you have that avocado souffle?

Robert Irvine: In my restaurant, of course.

Erika: Name your three favorite sandwiches with avocado.

Robert Irvine: BLT; chipotle steak; turkey with bacon. They're all on the Subway menu.

Erika: Any ideas for avocados in cocktails?

Robert Irvine: I'd make a cucumber avocado martini. Juice the cucumber and puree the avocado. Mix those together and make a martini. Add a little tabasco. Garnish with diced seedless cucumber and little Parisian balls of avocado.

Erika: If you were going to open a restaurant that served avocados in every dish, what would you call it?

Robert Irvine: Let's see....The Add-Vocado Pit. I think it would work! Someone asked me once about a restaurant that only does eggs - turns out there's one in Chicago that does $3 million a year in eggs. As long as you're creative and consistent, I truly believe you can succeed with a restaurant like that.

Erika: If you were competing on Chopped and got avocado in your dessert basket, what would you make?  
Robert Irvine: I'd do avocado panna cotta. Pureed avocado with eggs, cream and sugar, with gelatin added to form a mousse. I'd make a cold salad with diced avocados, fresh mint, kiwi, strawberries or cherries, and I'd serve that on top of the panna cotta sprinkled with a little black pepper. That's pretty good for off the cuff, hey? That actually sounds amazing. I'm going to make that next week for sure.

Erika: When you do, be sure to reference this conversation.

Robert Irvine: You know I will.

Erika: You were married last month [to professional wrestler Gail Kim]. Were avocados on the menu at your wedding reception?

Robert Irvine: Yes! There was avocado on Chef Morimoto's sushi and Michael Chiarello's salad. And also avocado with oysters: a blanched lettuce leaf wrapped around a raw oyster with avocado, onion and mignonette.

Erika: Guacamole: How do you make yours?

Robert Irvine: I score the avocado flesh and put in bowl. Then I add fresh tomatoes, skinned and seeded; red onion; cilantro; lime juice; Tabasco or Sriracha; and salt and pepper. That's it.

Erika: I have to ask. Do you read any food blogs?

Robert Irvine: I read anything where my name pops up. Even when someone says I'm mean, I like to respond - I like to educate people about what I do. There's a lot of great writing on blogs. I think a lot of blog writers should be syndicating and writing for bigger audiences.

Superfoods Month: Paula Deen and creamy kale soup

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Today's Superfood: Kale
Vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, manganese, fiber

There's been a lot of talk about Paula Deen's announcement that she's had type II diabetes for three years.

Three years during which she's peddled butter, cream, cheese, sugar, fried foods and other health-conscious no-no's to the American public in shocking amounts and with remarkable consistency.

Why did she do it? For the ratings. People like that kind of food. Even if they know it's not good for them, they like hearing about it, they salivate over it, and most important, they'll watch her make it on TV week after week.

Paula Deen is getting a lot of criticism. She's being accused of feeding poison to the American people even as she knew it had caused grave health issues for her and had radically changed her own eating habits.

I'm not going to be too hard on Paula Deen. She's got a living to make, just like the rest of us. People make their own choices about what goes into their mouths. Paula Deen made her own choices about what kind of food she wanted to showcase on TV in order to maintain her personal brand and her ratings (or the Food Network made them for her, or they made the decisions together).

But it's caused me to take a long, hard look at the food I've been writing about for the past three years. And I realized something:

Unlike Paula Deen, I write about the food I eat, and my family eats, day in and day out. And most food bloggers I know do the same.

Mine is not an "always" or "never" family when it comes to food. We eat vegetables and we eat pasta. We eat salad and we eat dessert.

When I compiled my recipe index, there were more recipes in the "Vegetables" category than in the "Desserts" category. That surprised me, actually. But I realized that's truly a reflection of the way we eat.

We have "often" foods and "sometimes" foods. If this blog is truly a reflection of the way we eat as a family, then meat is a "sometimes" food and vegetables are an "often" food. That's a good thing for our health, and it's the way I want to be seen by you, my readers.

This Superfoods Month series started as a way to keep me on track with my New Year's resolution to eat healthier foods. But it hasn't been a stretch. This, today, is the way my family eats.

I hope you like this kale soup. It's easy to prepare and turned out the color of pine trees. And yes, this is what my family ate yesterday.

P.S. I brought this soup to a food blogger gathering celebrating Idaho potatoes - see the bottom of this post for more Idaho potato recipes.

Click here for all the recipes in this Superfoods Month series

print recipe

Creamy kale soup

by Erika Kerekes January-22-2012

A simple soup packed with vitamins and fiber. If you find kale too bitter, substitute chard, spinach or another milder green, or use a mixture.

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 large bunch Tuscan or curly kale, leaves stripped from stems and roughly chopped
• 1 small potato, unpeeled, diced
• 1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
• juice of 1 lemon
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute about 4 minutes, until the onion is softened and turning translucent. Add the garlic and stir another 30 seconds - don't let the garlic burn.Now add the kale, potato and stock. The liquid will not be enough to cover the kale; that's okay. Bring the pot to a boil, turn down the heat, cover the pot, and simmer the soup about 20 minutes, until the kale is soft and the potatoes are cooked through. Transfer the soup to the blender and puree, or use a hand-held immersion blender to puree the soup in the pot. Add the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 40 mins Yield: 4-6 servings

How to make tamales: An afternoon with Chef Kevin Luzande at Playa Rivera

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Chef Kevin Luzande holding a sweet corn tamal, ready for the steamer

Serendipity. A happy coincidence. A random tweet I might just as easily have missed. An unscheduled day on the calendar.

That's how Emery, my 12-year-old son, and I ended up spending the afternoon at Playa Rivera with chef Kevin Luzande learning how to make their famous tamales. Free demo, said the tweet. Of course I do! said the boy. A phone call, a reservation, and off we went.

The wall of booze at the bar at Playa - yes, she climbs up that ladder every few minutes

Spanish hot chocolate, thick and sweet

Playa's justly famous blue corn muffins with almond butter

As we waited for the chef to get the staff through the busy part of brunch service, we sat at the bar drinking thick Spanish hot chocolate with house-made marshmallows and wolfing down Playa's famous blue corn muffins. I tried the piquillo peppers stuffed with chorizo and cheese (delicious little bites); Emery had the jalapeno waffle with pumpkin seeds (delicious but sweeter than expected). We chatted with Zak, the other guy who showed up for the demo, and shared a goat's milk ice cream sundae with a blue corn cookie and hazelnuts. Nueva Latina? Southwestern fusion? I'm not sure what label to put on Playa's menu, but everything we tried had personality and sass.

Emery at the demo table with chef Kevin Luzande

Chef Kevin's recipe for tamale masa

Then the three of us moved to a back table to watch chef Kevin make the tamales. He took us through three recipes: sweet corn tamales, mushroom tamales, and pork tamales. When chef Kevin got to Rivera, John Rivera Sedlar's downtown restaurant, the cooks in the kitchen were making tamales by feel rather than by recipe and measure. Chef Kevin tested, documented, insisted on consistency, and then brought that discipline to the kitchen at Playa.

Flattening a pulled pork tamal before wrapping and steaming

Ingredients ready for the tamal demo

We got lots of details: Grind the soaked, dried corn with the meat grinder attachment of a stand mixer to get the right texture, or buy prepared masa at a Mexican grocery - but specify that you want it for tamales, not tortillas, and without manteca (lard). Mix the masa with baking powder, shortening, salt and water. Wet masa is the secret to light, fluffy tamales - go for the texture of muffin batter.

Spreading masa and pulled pork on a banana leaf for pulled pork tamales

Mixing cooked chopped mushrooms with prepared masa for mushroom tamales

Chef Kevin softens banana leaves with a blowtorch - easier than blanching, he says

More tips: Spray the soaked corn husks with nonstick cooking spray so the tamales don't stick. Make them on a scale so they come out exactly the same size each time. Wrap them in heavy-duty plastic wrap so they retain moisture as they steam. And always keep the mixture wet, wet, wet or your tamales will end up dry, dry, dry.

For the sweet corn tamales and mushroom tamales, the filling and masa are mixed together so the flavor permeates the whole tamal. The pork tamales are made sandwich-style: thin layers of masa with an equally thin layer of shredded, seasoned pork spread between. Steam them 50 minutes, and then the best tip of all: After the tamales are cooked, chill them for at least half an hour to let them set - then, and only then, reheat and serve.

Playa chef Kevin Luzande

Pulled pork tamal

Unwrapping a hot sweet corn tamal

Sweet corn and mushroom tamales

We tasted the mixtures before. We tasted the tamales when they were done. "Tamales are my favorite Mexican food ever," declared Emery, and he scooped up every crumb with his plastic spoon. We asked lots of questions which chef Kevin answered patiently. We took a few tamales home. And in the end, he wouldn't even let us pay for our brunch.

This was the first cooking demo chef Kevin's held at Playa. Will there be more? we asked. He smiled. Tell the general manager you liked it, he said, and there very well may be. So, general manager, whoever you are, let me tell you: We liked it. We liked it a lot. And we can't wait to go back to Playa.

Playa Rivera, 7360 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036; 323.933.5300

2011 Emmy Awards: Photos from the red carpet

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Erika on the red carpet!

I'm no celebrity, but spending the day on the red carpet with the wonderful team from Duncan Hines sure made me feel like a star. I'll tell you all about it when I'm rested. Right now it's late, I've spent the last few hours sorting and labeling and editing and uploading photos, and I'm beat. It's time for bed.

Meantime, I got some fabulous photos thanks to my 55-250 zoom lens, with which I am completely in love today. I put together a slideshow over on my LA Cooking Examiner page. Gwyneth Paltrow, Steve Carell, Hugh Laurie, Conan O'Brien, Lea Michele...I got 'em! Oh, and I even got Tom Colicchio (in case you were wondering how all this TV star stuff relates to cooking and food and recipes).

Click here: Photos from the 2011 Emmy Awards at LA Cooking Examiner

Sunday's secret event - here's your last clue

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Still haven't figured out where I'll be on Sunday? Okay, I realize that some of you may not actually care. Humor me. This is a pretty big deal in my life.

Tomorrow's the big reveal. For now, this list is your third clue:

• Harold Dieterle
• Ilan Hall
• Hung Huynh
• Stephanie Izard
• Hosea Rosenberg
• Michael Voltaggio
• Kevin Sbraga
• Richard Blais

These people all have something in common, and that something has something to do with the something I'll be doing on Sunday! Got it yet? Leave a comment....

What does Giada De Laurentiis pack in her daughter's lunchbox?

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Food Network chef Giada De Laurentiis signing books after her talk

Last weekend Food and Wine magazine and the Los Angeles Times put on The Taste LA, a four-day food festival packed with stylish small plates, festive wines and star-studded celebrity chefs. Of course, the very smart producers saved the most popular chef for last: Food Network chef Giada De Laurentiis, whose Q&A with LA Times associate food editor Rene Lynch closed the place down.

I'm seeing a pattern with these celebrity chefs: strong personality, sparkling smile, supreme patience. Rene only got in a few questions because the adoring fans packed into the sweaty tent had plenty of their own. Twice Giada was asked how she stays so thin when she's always around food ("Portion control. Exercise. Genetics"). She got questions about her favorite recipe ("Lemon spaghetti"), her future travels (Bora Bora for the next season of Giada in Paradise), her future as an Iron Chef ("They keep asking, but no - once was enough"). She mentioned her preschool daughter Jade at least a half-dozen times. At the end of the hour, with security detail standing by, she signed books and posed for photos, all with that same huge smile.

Someone in the audience had asked whether Giada follows food blogs. "I don't," she said remorsefully. "But I should. I want to." I don't need more of a hint than that. As she came off the stage I introduced myself, handed her my card and said "That's for your blog reading list." She thanked me and bent down to take a picture with my son Emery.

My 12-year-old gourmand son Emery with Giada De Laurentiis - have you ever seen a happier kid?

As Giada stood up, I threw out a question: "So what do you pack in Jade's lunchbox?" I thought she'd give an off-the-cuff response and keep moving, which her security guys clearly would have preferred. But she stopped and looked at me. Feeding her family: This is a topic she cares about, thinks about. "Lamb chops," she said. Lamb chops? I was trying to picture a three-year-old pulling that out of her lunchbox at school and must have looked puzzled.

Giada elaborated. "What I do," she said, "is cook up a few proteins, a few vegetables, a few grains, and I keep those in the refrigerator. Then, when I'm making Jade's lunch, I cut up some meat and vegetables, heat them up in a pan with some of the grain or pasta, and top it with some grated cheese. Then I put it in one of those insulated thermos things. That's how I eat, so that's how she eats." And then, with her dazzling smile and security guards, she said goodbye and moved on.

The morals of this story:

1. For bloggers: Never be afraid to ask your question. You might get blown off. Or you might have a real conversation. You'll have better luck if you ask about something you know they care about, rather than just something you care about.
2. Carpe diem, baby.
3. Spend the money on professional teeth-whitening. Sorry, Crest Whitestrips, but you can only take a girl so far.
4. I might need to get slightly more ambitious when packing my kids' lunches.

VIDEO: Food Network chef Claire Robinson on her mom's cooking

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Food Network host Claire Robinson making scones and butter at The Taste LA

Celebrity chefs have lots of stories to tell, so when I get a minute with a food personality, I always have a few questions ready. I met Food Network host Claire Robinson this weekend after her cooking demo at The Taste LA, an extravagant three-day food festival. She talked about her grandmother's creamed corn recipe (two ingredients: bacon and corn), which got me thinking about food and family. So when I got to the front of the line I switched on my video camera and asked:

"What's the first food you remember your mom making for you?"

Watch the video below for her response - she's adorable and funny (which is probably why she's on TV and I'm not) (yet).

Video: Celebrity chef Scott Conant

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Celebrity chef Scott Conant cooking pasta at The Taste LA

If you had one minute with a celebrity chef, what would you talk about? I'm always looking for backstory. This weekend I caught up with restauranteur and Chopped judge Scott Conant after his cooking demo at The Taste LA, an extravagant three-day food festival. Earlier, a woman in the audience had asked if he was married, and he said yes (to the disappointment of many). So when it was my turn I switched on my video camera and asked:

"What's the first thing you ever cooked for your wife?"

Watch the video below for his response - and you'll see why more than a few of the ladies in the audience were charmed.

Green garlic risotto

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A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to go to the opening of The Market at Santa Monica Place. The Market, an airy hall filled with gourmet food stalls on top of the recently renovated mall in downtown Santa Monica, feels a bit like San Francisco's Ferry Building. It's got chocolate, cheese, bread, wine, salumi, flowers, cookies, ice cream, fashion-forward small plates - much of it locally sourced, all of it attractive and delicious.

The night of the grand opening celebration, Good Food host Evan Kleiman and L.A. Weekly food writer Jonathan Gold did a cooking demo in the market's brand-new Gourmandise School of Sweets and Savories. Jonathan, ever the carnivore, did a classic, ultra-manly carbonara, all bacon and slick egg yolks. It was delicious, but it didn't feel particularly local to me, despite the hefty chunks of pork from Los Angeles's new darling butchering duo Lindy and Grundy.

Evan Kleiman prepping for her demo at The Gourmandise School

Evan, on the other hand, embraced the bounty of southern California with a green risotto. Into her food processor went arugula, spinach, green onions and herbs. She added some of the chopped greens at the beginning of the risotto process ("for flavor") and another dollop at the end ("for color"). Snap peas cut on the diagonal went in at the last minute. It looked like grass, and it sort of tasted like grass, too, fresh and mild and a little sneezy. She uses vegetable stock or water when she's making risotto, both to please the vegetarians and because, she says, chicken stock smells like feet if you cook it too long.

Later that week I decided to make my own green risotto. I found myself reaching for the strong stuff, though. Mine had green garlic and dandelion instead of spinach and green onions. And a good, strong, homemade chicken stock, because I like the smell of feet. Same method, same beautiful color, none of the delicacy. My green risotto hits you over the head with spring. It rubs spring in your face. What can I say? Subtlety isn't my strong suit.

This green garlic risotto would make an excellent side with roast chicken, oven-roasted salmon or grilled steak. Don't serve it with anything too complicated. It's assertive. You don't want to make it mad.

print recipe

Green garlic risotto

by Erika Kerekes June-9-2011

Use any combination of greens you like for this herb-laden risotto. If you can't find green garlic, substitute a few chopped garlic cloves and double down on the green onions.

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 large shallots, minced
• 2 cups Arborio rice
• 1 cup white wine, divided
• approximately 8 cups good-quality chicken stock, kept at a simmer on a nearby burner
• 2 stalks green garlic
• 6 green onions
• approximately 4 cups mixed fresh herbs (basil, parsley, dill, tarragon, chives) and/or strong-flavored greens (dandelion, arugula, kale, mustard)
• 2 cups Parmigiano-Reggiano or Romano cheese, grated
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and shallots and saute about a minute, until the shallots are translucent and starting to color. Add the rice and stir about two minutes, until the rice is coated with the olive oil and starting to change from opaque to translucent.Add 1/2 cup of the wine and stir until it's mostly evaporated. Now start with the chicken stock - add about two cups the first time and stir until it's absorbed. When you draw your spoon along the bottom of the pot and it leaves a trail, add some more stock, one or two ladles at a time.Meantime, in between the first and second addition of stock, put the green garlic, green onions, greens and herbs in a food processor and blitz until everything is finely chopped. It may even turn into a paste - that's fine. When you add the second bit of stock, add a good heaping cup of the chopped greens as well.Continue stirring and adding stock in the same manner until the rice is al dente - this will take 15-20 minutes, so start testing it after 15. When it's just al dente, stir in the remaining half-cup of wine, grated cheese, another dollop of the chopped greens, and salt and pepper. Stir well, cover the pot, and turn off the heat. Let the risotto stand for about 5 minutes, then serve immediately. If the risotto thickens up too much while it stands, stir in a little extra stock.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: 8-10 servings