In Wednesday’s Food section you’ll see a small article about some of the new features that are coming to the section. As most of you already know, I’m trying to assemble a committee of cookbook reviewers. Some of you have already told me you’re interested; if you haven’t, now’s the time to let me know.
I’m also looking for cooking groups to profile, kids to write about, and I want to help you find products that you love and have lost. Find more details in the Food section.
But more than that, I’m open to hearing anything else you might be interested in reading about. I really do believe that some of the best food and cooks to be found are right in our backyard, and I want to revitalize the Food section, put less wire copy in it and more local news and features instead. I’ll need your help to do that. And by local I don’t just mean Memphis–I mean our region. Tell me about little places you know of way down in the Delta. Let me know about the woman up around Whiteville that bakes the best cakes around, the man with a killer barbecue sauce across the bridge in Arkansas. I want to meet these people. I want to tell you their stories.
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Responses to “Post your food ideas here”
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:08 pm
I have a topic I would like to know more about - convection cooking. I have a new toy - an Oster digital toaster/convection oven - & I know nothing about convection cooking. I haven’t completely unpacked it yet, as it is going in my new house this wk-end when I move. So there may be a cookbook or at least some recipes lurking in the packaging somewhere that I haven’t seen yet. Are there convection cookbooks, rules of thumb, or any success/failure stories anyone can share? Even if I don’t use it very often, in favor of using a gas stove again for the first time in 24+ years, I would still like to know how it works. I understand it saves energy as well as cooking more quickly, which might be handy this summer when I don’t want to heat up the kitchen. I look forward to any & all topics, & I’ll let you know if I come across anything noteworthy that readers might enjoy.
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Hi Carole. A rule of thumb with convection cooking is to reduce the temperature by 25 degrees AND to reduce cooking time by about 25 percent. That’s what the experts say, but you’ll have to get to know your oven–and it’s not the same for everything you cook. I got a convection oven when we remodeled our kitchen a couple of years ago–electric oven and gas range–and I love it. I’m sure there will be directions in the box, so start with those. And I’m fairly certain that I have a new convection cookbook in my stack of goodies, so maybe you’ll want to review cookbooks and start with that one…
May 23rd, 2007 at 5:50 pm
I’ve purchased toaster/convection ovens and they never seem to live up to my expectations. The cooking times shown in the brochures that come with the ovens rarely matched the actual required time. The results differed according to the brand purchased. While the foods looked and tasted great, timing was always an issue. Then, I read that counter-top convection ovens are not true convection ovens.
May 23rd, 2007 at 11:24 pm
I would like very much to participate in reviewing cookbooks for your new food section. My wife and I both love to cook and experiement with recipes, and it would be most interesting to try recipes and report on them. We live in Ashland, Mississippi, but we make weekly grocery shopping trips to Memphis, particularly to Wild Oats, Fresh Market, Costco, and Krogers, as our local supermarket has only the most basic foods.
Please contact us at the enclosed email address.
May 24th, 2007 at 9:49 am
Ive always wanted to see a food -n- travel column with stories of regional and sometimes exotic travel to interesting places and places to eat.
I’d like to see a guest recipie with local restaurant chefs showing a personal favorite or a variation of a restaurant recipe.
A database of old recipies would be nice. I know you can pay for archives and look one up (I have done that), but it would be nice just to have a free database -or- blog with recipies.
In an effort to promote a fellow Fred, I wish Fredric’s wine column would be placed with more prominence and maybe include local poipular sales and additions (Busters’s, Arthurs, Natalies and other liquor sales stores). You know all the Freds actually run the world!!!!!
I may be the minority but regular international recipies would be a great addition.
I like the restaurant reviews, so leave them alone. I like the reader votes and reviews.
May 25th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Thanks for the support Fred but the reason my wine column is not displayed with more prominence is that I haven’t written a wine column for The CA since January 2004. All my writing about wine is on my website; I also have a personal blog (not connected to The CA) where I write about wine and spirits and restaurants and related matters. If you shoot me an email, I’ll send you the links.
May 25th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
I would love to read and review cookbooks, I am addicted to cookbooks, I have four bookscases full and just bought 3 books last night. I read them as if they were novels. I also enjoy going to restaurants trying new foods and then trying to deciper the recipes.
I love reading where the CA readers ask for help locating old recipes they have lost or restaurant recipes. Please contact me if you can make use of my love of good food, and good cookbooks.
Rheada Haynes
2204 Pleasant Grove
Hernando, MS 38632
May 29th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Jennifer - if it’s not too late I’d like to get in on the cookbook review squad. I love books, cooking, reading, and reading cookbooks, so maybe I am optimally qualified? Shall I send recipes, recipe reviews, restaurant reviews, and/or book reviews in order to prove my worth? Oh please, pick me! Pick me!
May 31st, 2007 at 5:34 pm
I would love to be on the cookbook team. I too, collect them from all over the world, and when I get new one, it’s worse than a novel. I can’t put it down until I’ve read it cover to cover. It’s kind of funny to look at variations of the same recipe in different regions. Let me know if I can helo.
June 2nd, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Jennifer - I thought your chicken salad story was a great example of what makes a local food section “appealing.” You involved your readers yet relied on your “expert” panel to sort through many examples of a local favorite. (James Dowd has to be a chicken salad expert of the highest order given the number of church events he covers.) I did object to your omission of Costco chicken salad on the premise that they charged a fee to enter the store. One meal at a decent restaurant costs more than an annual Costco membership and you don’t normally seem to use price as a screen in your other stories. BTW Costco is now prominently stocking its chicken salad in an endcap in the chilled food section.
I’d really like to see more coverage of the Southern Foodways Alliance and John T. Edge. I find that national outlets seem to cover him with more frequency than the CA. Serious Eats just did a spot on John’s new book “Donuts” for National Donut day - http://www.seriouseats.com/required_eating/2007/05/cook-the-book-donuts-an-americ.html.
There have a many postings/comments on this blog about the lack of sophistication of Memphis diners - maybe CA could address this by including a food glossary or with articles dispelling myths about food (how many people still think all sushi is raw fish?).
I am excited that the CA is planning new features for the food section. A few years ago, CA readers typically had few options for comparing CA coverage with other outlets. Now we can easily read food sections from the New York Times and other major dailies along with professionally researched/reported blogs. The bar is higher and a food section of recycled wire stories compares poorly to other options for your readers time.
September 20th, 2007 at 8:13 am
Did the cookbook reading get off the ground and I missed it? Still interested if you have not gotten this going.
11 comment.