   |
A report from the trenches
 Neil PlakcyTuesday, March 4, 2003 IT WAS a hot, sunny Sunday on South Beach, and the streets were crowded with tourists, including a large contingent of Brits fresh off a cruise ship. The weather couldn't have cooperated more for the only day of the South Beach Food & Wine Festival that was open to the general public. The entrance to the festival area was across the street from the late Gianni Versace's home, Casa Casuarina, and attendees had to walk through the park which runs along the beach, mingling with couples and families carrying coolers and sand chairs, and then across a stretch of sand, to the registration tents. Attendees exchanged one part of each $75 ticket for a hot pink wristband entitling them to eat and drink at the Grand Tasting, and the other part for an etched wine glass and a spring green bag emblazoned with Food & Wine and Jeep logos, stuffed with a current copy of F&W, brochures, and a wooden paddle of some sort provided by Real Food Basic, a South Beach kitchen store. The program wasn't particularly well-organized, with speakers that overlapped each other by fifteen minutes and a bunch of dead time in the middle of the day -- and the Grand Tasting ran only for a couple of hours at the end of the day, up against Alice Waters and Pierre Herme. From this account in the Miami Herald, though, the event was better organized than it was last year: The Herald article also provides some more information on the mysterious disappearance of British uber-chef Gordon Ramsay, who was to lead a session called "A Chef for All Seasons." Instead, apparently, he arrived at his hotel, made a phone call, and promptly returned to England, leaving organizers in the lurch. First up was Bobby Flay, in the SubZero/Wolf Cooking Demonstration Tent. He tried to convince the audience that using chilies and spices provided a lot of flavor but not a lot of heat. He cooked a pork tenderloin, using a rub to create a crust. "Contrast of texture and flavor are the two most important things in cooking," he said. "You want the pork to be crusty outside and tender inside." Flay advised that the pork should only be cooked medium, to remain tender and juicy. "Don't turn the pork over too quickly," he continued. "Otherwise you'll just be boiling it in the oil." He recommended using frozen apple juice concentrate to provide texture and a little sweetness, because something sweet can distract the heat and allow the flavor to come through. In the midst of his demonstration, he happened to pick up a pot and notice that it was part of Emeril's line. "The man doesn't even have to be here and he's got representation," he said, drawing a big laugh from the audience. Flay's next dish was swordfish, and he recommended marinating only for 30 seconds to 30 minutes; after that the acid breaks down the texture of the fish. He used another rub for the fish, which he only put on while the fish was cooking. "The sugar is a great conductor of heat, so putting it on the hot swordfish will help cook the top of the fish," he said. He used mint as part of the rub, saying, "Mint is a fabulous herb and it's great for spicy dishes, but you must use a bit of honey to preserve and stretch the flavor -- otherwise just chopping it removes the mint's flavor." He encouraged the audience, "Every year, when you change the battery in your smoke detector, throw out your old spices." He went so far as to suggest buying a second coffee grinder to grind your own. He also suggested washing your hands with milk or another dairy product after working with spicy chilies. The next session took place in the American Airlines Celebrated Living Lifestyle Seminar Tent, with TV host, author and event designer Colin Cowie, whose presentation centered around how setting the scene influences a diner's impression of the meal. He spoke with slides shown on two large flat panel monitors, but he wasn't miked loud enough to compete effectively with the generators next door, the fans, and the sound of people fishing in the ice buckets for the amply provided free bottled water. It was also hard to see the monitors in the glare of the sun off the sand. Cowie had a couple of interesting tips, such as "Pick one color or pattern to tell a story," "Votive candles make us look younger and more glamorous," and "The stronger the cocktail, the quicker you jump-start the party." He also described a four-chocolate overload, with a brownie, chocolate ice cream, a chocolate truffle on top and then drizzled with chocolate syrup which I'd like to try and create myself.  The seminars seemed to go downhill as the day went on.
Aaron Sanchez was a last-minute substitute for Gordon Ramsay, and
the most interesting thing he said was, "Give a little love to the
indigenous people of the Americas for providing tomatoes -- even though
people connect them to Italian cuisine, the Italians didn't have tomatoes
until the 1840s." Marcus Samuelsson talked about his philosophy of food, citing seafood, game, methods of pickling and preserving, texture and temperature as the building blocks of his cuisine. He was pleased that cooking today has moved from being driven by technique to being driven by taste. He also said that he likes to mix meat and seafood -- one recipe he prepared was Tuna Kobe Beef Ravioli with Truffle Tea (not a pasta dish at all, though!). "Meats and fish that look alike have similar flavor points," he said, "such as beef and tuna." He advised that when buying fish, always to ask for sushi grade, because then the fishmonger will give you the best quality at the same price. Dean Fearing of the Mansion on Turtle Creek began early by answering questions because there was nothing else going on and the audience had filled the tent twenty minutes before he was supposed to begin. "I can't go a day without eating something spicy," he said. "Even my three-year-old and five-year-old eat spicy foods a couple of times a week." He was another fan of texture, saying that "There needs to be something crunchy on every plate." Alice Waters was charming and interesting, though she didn't say much that hasn't already been endlessly repeated. She did point out that she wants diners to feel that they're eating at a particular place and at a particular time, which led her to her philosophy of local growers and seasonal foods. "We probably have 75 different people who bring us food," she said. "Sometimes someone only brings us one item for one week, just when it's at the peak of ripeness." She'd visited a couple of local farm markets on Saturday and Sunday and brought bags full of examples of what she'd found, things like turnips, kale, frisee, watercress, parsley, coconut, oranges, lemons and sunflowers. She also described meeting with a school class that is integrating gardening into their curriculum, and how she's attempting to start a similar movement nationwide. She'd like to turn the school lunch into an extension of the classroom to counteract the trend toward fast food and homogenous cuisine she sees everywhere. She splits the job of chef between two individuals, who each cook three days a week. There are two upstairs at Chez Panisse, two downstairs, and two in pastry. The other two days a week the chefs do other work for her, allowing them all to have family lives. There was a lot of applause from the audience for this concept. One of the best showmen was Tony Abou-Ganim, the master mixologist at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. His talk centered on some of the same points as the chefs, including the use of the best, freshest ingredients. "For only a nickel more, you go first class," he said. He gave us his take on the shaken versus stirred issue: "You shake the white drinks and stir the brown ones." He also said never to shake anything carbonated (how many of learned that rule as kids with Coke cans!). He reminded us that ice is one of the most important components of any drink and that we should be sure it's fresh. "Nothing will screw up a drink faster than bad ice." When demonstrating the martini, he "seasoned" the ice with the vermouth, pouring it over the ice, shaking it, then draining the remaining vermouth before pouring in the gin. He also advised pouring around the exterior wall of the glass so nothing spilled. He introduced us to some common bartender tools such as the hawthorn strainer, the puree strainer and the Boston shaker, as well as a muddler, used to release the oil from the mint leaves for a mojito without breaking up the leaves so that drinkers don't get little bits of mint leaves in their teeth. The most disappointing speaker was Pierre Herme. Introduced by Dana Cowan of F&W as the world's best pastry chef, he certainly wasn't the best at demonstrating. The two dishes he showed were incredibly complex, and he'd done various prep work before so you couldn't easily follow what had to be done. His accent was also hard to understand, and putting him at the end of the day when the sun was glaring in the tent and everyone was full and tired probably didn't help.  The final, and most fun part of
the fest was the Grand Tasting. At Aspen, the bulk of the food exhibitors
were manufacturers and distributors, while on South Beach those exhibitors
with food were primarily local restaurants. There were over a hundred
booths to visit, and the tasting lasted only from 3-7 pm. There was so much to taste that I couldn't keep track of what I ate where, which seems to me to defeat the purpose. The only things I managed to write down were a smoked prime beef carpaccio on gingerbread crostini with maytag blue cheese and a guanabana almond crumb tart with panela icea cream, caramel and berries. But which of the dozens of restaurants provided it? With a little practice, this event could easily come to rival Aspen's, with much easier flight connections, better hotel accommodations, and a much better nightlife. See you on the Beach next year! Neil Plakcy ("plax" on eGullet.com) is a freelance writer and web developer based in Hollywood, Florida. Photos by the author |