Deep in the Kentucky Fried Chicken archives (yes, KFC has archives), a staffer has made a startling discovery: a “food autobiography” of the late Colonel Harland Sanders, the man famous for his fried chicken and immaculate white suits. According to the Toronto Star, the document contains “recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner and instructions on the right way to make biscuits, pancakes, omelettes, casserole and pies.” A spokesperson for Yum! Brand, KFC’s parent company, said the company would release the manuscript online for free some time next year. Although Sanders has been dead since 1980, his words live on: “I was a farm boy and lean toward farm cooking. To me, my recipes are priceless.” There’s no word yet on whether the work contains tips on factory farming and shopping mall food court cuisine. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
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Rapper would eat pterodactyl in defiance of PETA, Iron Chef scandal at the White House, Guy Fieri gets NBC show
• Some commenters believe that the recent White House–themed episode of Iron Chef was rigged with fake vegetables. The items Mario Batali, Emeril Lagasse and Bobby Flay frantically picked from the White House garden were not the ones actually used during the cooking segment of the show. The Food Network explains that the production delay between White House filming and Kitchen Stadium (located in New York) necessitated the use of replacement veggies. If reality TV can lie about vegetables, does this mean that Jersey Shore could be trumped up, too? [Colbert Report]
• Kelis, the rapper whose milkshake famously brought all those boys to the yard, directs a MySpace blog post at PETA, which had written her a personalized letter about her love of fur. In the response, she is unapologetic about her pelt fetish and describes how she salivates over meat. The funniest moment is when she indicates that she would “eat pterodactyl if you found some and you told me it was meaty and delicious.” [MySpace]
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Black garlic takes Toronto, Christopher Walken chickens out, the world’s largest hamburger
• Christopher Walken has posted a YouTube video showcasing his cooking skills. In the video “Man Makes Chicken With Pears,” Walken walks viewers through the whole recipe. Emeril he is not. His kitchen reminds us of our first apartment, complete with cat sniffing around the food. Our favourite quote? “I love this chicken neck,” he says with his trademark spookiness. “It’s great.” [YouTube]
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Truffles to close, the KFC “float-thru,” 64,373 kilometres of Twinkie wrapper
• Truffles, one of Toronto’s most revered fine-dining institutions, will serve its last meal on September 5. Four Seasons executive Dimitrios Zarikos told Corey Mintz that while business had been declining at Truffles for years, it was the recession that retired them at age 37. Internationally acclaimed alumni include Jonathan Gushue of Langdon Hall in Cambridge, Lynn Crawford of the Four Seasons New York and Jason McLeod of Elysian in Chicago. Predictably, Truffles will be replaced by something “more casual.” [Toronto Star]
• Howstuffworks.com has just ruined a few more foods for us. Each year, 64,373 kilometres of plastic wrap are used to package Twinkies; worcestershire sauce is mainly anchovies; and most disgustingly of all, the U.S. FDA allows up to 19 maggots in each can of assembly line mushrooms. If the latter doesn’t make one a Tupperware-toting slow-food vegetarian, nothing ever will. [Howstuffworks.com]
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Best fast food, revolutionizing restaurant reservations, the true origins of haggis
Chain Reaction: top American chefs have voted In-N-Out Burger as the best fast food joint
• America’s star chefs have chosen In-N-Out Burger as their favourite fast food joint. Nine members of the 27-judge panel praised In-N-Out for its “greasy but oddly clean-tasting” burgers, including Thomas Keller of The French Laundry. The other chains—from Chipotle Mexican Grill to Kentucky Fried Chicken—received just one nod each. [Esquire]
• Urbanspoon is challenging Open Table with its plan to offer reservations through a smart phone app. Their popular restaurant finder is “shaken” by hungry iPhone owners over a million times a day. The reservations system will be test-marketed with four restaurants in Seattle, but eventually expanded to all 90 of their target markets—including Toronto. [NBC]
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Fast-food copycat, street meat problems, Nelson Mandela’s eating habits
Finger-lickin' facsimile: A man in Long Island claims to have reproduced KFC's signature recipe (Photo by El Gran Dee)
• A Long Island man claims to have cracked KFC’s notoriously well-guarded fried chicken recipe. In fact, Ron Douglas—who until 2007 was a finance manager at a major Wall Street firm—has spent the past two years recreating a plethora of top-secret fast-food recipes and posting them on his Web site. [New York Post]
• Life ain’t easy for the proprietors of Toronto’s first ethnic food carts. Two months after the much-touted (but somewhat mismanaged) Toronto à la Cart pilot project began, several of the vendors are still working second jobs, and three are temporarily out of business while the city finds new locations for them. One has even refinanced her house to pay her start-up costs. Bad summer weather hasn’t helped matters, either. [Toronto Star]
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Poisonous grocery bags, debunking orange juice myths, KFC’s latest quagmire
In the bag: Reusable sacks might carry more than groceries (Photo by Umeboshi Panda)
• They’re good for the environment, but reusable grocery bags might not be so great for personal health. Researchers A study funded by Environment and Plastics Industry Council have determined that the popular sacks can carry traces of bacteria, yeast and mould, which can cause food poisoning, among other ailments. [National Post]
• Is it possible we’re starting our day on the wrong foot? Processed orange juice may not quite as wholesome as its reputation suggests. According to one researcher, it is packed with chemicals and artificial colours and flavours. [Toronto Star]
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Oprah’s chicken problem, iPhone apps for foodies, Carlo Petrini in Toronto
iPhood: Diners have an appetite for apps (Photo by Kent Wang)
• PC Magazine has listed the iPhone’s 10 best foodie apps. One allows non–meat eaters to find vegetarian restaurants in their area; another gives impulsive users the ability to locate a restaurant with an open table, reserve it, get directions and view the menu. What a time to be alive. [PC Mag]
• The Hot Docs Festival is on, and there are plenty of documentaries for foodies this year—though the films don’t exactly make our mouths water. Topics include dwindling global fish stocks, the importance of nutrition for soldiers at war, and the harm free trade has done to Korean farmers. [BlogTO]
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