Roast Beef Recipe Circa 1955

Here’s a roast beef recipe that is sure to raise an eyebrow. It’s from comedic genius Gracie Allen. I’ve included a YouTube video of the The George Burns and Allen Show that contains a reference to the recipe @ circa 25 minutes into the show.

FW: Gracies kitchen magic

Gracie Allen’s Classic Recipe for Roast Beef

1 large Roast of beef
1 small Roast of beef

Take the two roasts and put them in the oven.

When the little one burns, the big one is done.

The best sauce in the world is hunger.

Pretzel Logic

As much as I consider myself a New Yorker (I lived there more than 50 years) the reality is that I live now live in a suburb of Philadelphia which, like the city that it exurbed itself from, is out of its mind with excitement over the coming contest between the Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays.
There seems to be almost as many Phillies logos arond town as there are political campaign signs. Anyway, today I was on my way to the local music store to drop off a French horn that we do not need because the school band has one to lend to my son when he switches from his regular instrument (trumpet) during certain pieces, when I noticed that the pretzel store (soft pretels are big stuff here) was selling pretzels shaped into the letter “P” -for Phillies, and not pretzel as you might assume in any other month.

Now, my son is a big Phillies fan and he loves pretzels. So I thought ‘WTF, I’ll get him one.’ Of course, I have two kids so not wanting to leave my daughter (who loves pretzels but hates the Phillies) out of the equation, I bought two.

Flash forward to the return of my daughter, who is always ravenously hungry when she walks in, from school. After a brief hug and ‘How are you” I grab the bag of pretzels and offer her one. Her response? “No thanks, I hate the Phillies.”

Wow, if that wasn’t ever a primer on how people will reject foods that they associate with a despised “other” I don’t know anything.

The best sauce in the world is hunger.

Pretzel Logic

As much as I consider myself a New Yorker (I lived there more than 50 years) the reality is that I live now live in a suburb of Philadelphia which, like the city that it exurbed itself from, is out of its mind with excitement over the coming contest between the Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays.
There seems to be almost as many Phillies logos arond town as there are political campaign signs. Anyway, today I was on my way to the local music store to drop off a French horn that we do not need because the school band has one to lend to my son when he switches from his regular instrument (trumpet) during certain pieces, when I noticed that the pretzel store (soft pretels are big stuff here) was selling pretzels shaped into the letter “P” -for Phillies, and not pretzel as you might assume in any other month.

Now, my son is a big Phillies fan and he loves pretzels. So I thought ‘WTF, I’ll get him one.’ Of course, I have two kids so not wanting to leave my daughter (who loves pretzels but hates the Phillies) out of the equation, I bought two.

Flash forward to the return of my daughter, who is always ravenously hungry when she walks in, from school. After a brief hug and ‘How are you” I grab the bag of pretzels and offer her one. Her response? “No thanks, I hate the Phillies.”

Wow, if that wasn’t ever a primer on how people will reject foods that they associate with a despised “other” I don’t know anything.

The best sauce in the world is hunger.

Now This

This is just sad.

Apparently so few humans have been able to eat her cooking, that Rachael Ray has had to turn to feeding dogs to satisfy her creative ambitions. This seems “EVOO” on it’s face, yet I suppose we should be happy that the dogs are finding her food “Yum-o.” At least something wants to eat what she cooks.

But then again, dogs are fond of eating feces, rotten garbage and road kill. (I once had the honor of riding in a car with a dog who had eaten of a bloated harbor seal that had washed up on a Cape Cod Beach; it was a revelation.) so she better not let their appreciation for her cuisine go to her head. If Ms. Ray wants to be a good cook she still needs to work on her cooking skills and get over her dependence on the prepared foods that she slops out of bags and cans into her Rachel Ray branded pans.

Rachael Ray Launches Line of Super Premium Dog Food & Treats – MarketWatch

The best sauce in the world is hunger.

Now This

This is just sad.

Apparently so few humans have been able to eat her cooking, that Rachael Ray has had to turn to feeding dogs to satisfy her creative ambitions. This seems “EVOO” on it’s face, yet I suppose we should be happy that the dogs are finding her food “Yum-o.” At least something wants to eat what she cooks.

But then again, dogs are fond of eating feces, rotten garbage and road kill. (I once had the honor of riding in a car with a dog who had eaten of a bloated harbor seal that had washed up on a Cape Cod Beach; it was a revelation.) so she better not let their appreciation for her cuisine go to her head. If Ms. Ray wants to be a good cook she still needs to work on her cooking skills and get over her dependence on the prepared foods that she slops out of bags and cans into her Rachel Ray branded pans.

Rachael Ray Launches Line of Super Premium Dog Food & Treats – MarketWatch

The best sauce in the world is hunger.

Next Top Chef?

Paul Redman, one of my students from the Culinary Institute of America who himself teaches future chefs in Seattle, informed me today that a classmate, Dale Talde, is going to be competing to be the Bravo networks’ next Top Chef. It seems strange to me that I remember Dale out of thousands of students that passed through my classroom. And it is very gratifying to know that he is still out there, like Paul, fighting the good fight for the craft.

Regular readers of this blog probably know that my interest in cooking competition is tepid at best. So tepid in fact, that last season I had to force myself to watch “The Next Iron Chef” when my good friend Mr. Ruhlman was on as a judge. But force myself I did, and I suppose I will do the same when Dale has his moment in the sun.

Good luck Dale!

The best sauce in the world is hunger.

Next Top Chef?

Paul Redman, one of my students from the Culinary Institute of America who himself teaches future chefs in Seattle, informed me today that a classmate, Dale Talde, is going to be competing to be the Bravo networks’ next Top Chef. It seems strange to me that I remember Dale out of thousands of students that passed through my classroom. And it is very gratifying to know that he is still out there, like Paul, fighting the good fight for the craft.

Regular readers of this blog probably know that my interest in cooking competition is tepid at best. So tepid in fact, that last season I had to force myself to watch “The Next Iron Chef” when my good friend Mr. Ruhlman was on as a judge. But force myself I did, and I suppose I will do the same when Dale has his moment in the sun.

Good luck Dale!

The best sauce in the world is hunger.

TV Chefs, Far From Reality … Duh!

I’d love to have Frank Bruni’s job so that I could get paid to write lines like these

But the celebrity chefs who do cameos on the “Top Chef” judging panel, greeted by awe-struck stares from those contestants, recall the actors and actresses in the tic-tac-toe boxes of “The Hollywood Squares.” They’re transmitting their fungible star wattage, and they’re a long way from their supposed day jobs.

I’m not suggesting that I’m a better writer. (I am not.) And know I would not be happy writing restaurant reviews, but I absolutely covet his job of telling everyone what they already know.

TV Chefs, Far From Reality – New York Times

The best sauce in the world is hunger.

TV Chefs, Far From Reality … Duh!

I’d love to have Frank Bruni’s job so that I could get paid to write lines like these

But the celebrity chefs who do cameos on the “Top Chef” judging panel, greeted by awe-struck stares from those contestants, recall the actors and actresses in the tic-tac-toe boxes of “The Hollywood Squares.” They’re transmitting their fungible star wattage, and they’re a long way from their supposed day jobs.

I’m not suggesting that I’m a better writer. (I am not.) And know I would not be happy writing restaurant reviews, but I absolutely covet his job of telling everyone what they already know.

TV Chefs, Far From Reality – New York Times

The best sauce in the world is hunger.

Fun Stuff 4 A Friday Afternoon a la Andy Singer

We are sure that most women will agree that most- if not all- men have not done a very good job of refining their sense of humor beyond what it was immediately following the first time they laughed at the sound of flatulence or the sight of Moe Howard administering a haircut to Curly with a crosscut saw. But while some might see this as evidence of an atavistic trait for idiocy (located, of course, on the Y chromosome) or the action of a neurologically degenerative prion (such as the one responsible for mad cow disease), A Hunger Artist celebrates it as a gift from the gods or, perhaps, the metaphysical entity that designed this simulation that we refer to as “life on earth” and the bounding universe.

So it is with thanks to whatever the heck it was that prompted the first knucklehead to make the first satirical remark or drawing that we give you the comic art of Andy Singer. Not that we know who he beyond what he’s posted at his site along with the comics that you see here.

Our thanks to Gary Allen for the tip off to Andy’s site.

The best sauce in the world is hunger.