Hold the tomato - (Forbes.com)
Stanton Sheetz shuddered a few weeks ago when he heard news reports of how contaminated spinach had made 200 people sick, causing a nationwide food panic that would have utterly depressed Popeye. Stanton, 51, is chief executive of the privately held chain of 330 convenience stores his father founded in 1952. The spinach news rattled him because his Sheetz stores were still recovering from a food crisis of their own two years ago. This one involved Salmonella in the sliced Roma tomatoes that grace Sheetz's trademark made-to-order sandwiches--giant, fat-laden, juicy creations that won legions of adoring fans. Seven hundred people in four states said they got sick, and Sheetz's food sales--which typically provide two-thirds of gross profit, while gasoline provides the rest--instantly dropped 20%. The story says that tort lawyers lined up 139 plaintiffs and waged a legal onslaught that only now is abating, racking up several million dollars in settlements. Stanton was cited as saying that some of the same lawyers are lining up clients to sue over tainted spinach, adding, "I never had a flashback in my life until I heard about it and got a sinking feeling in my stomach." To read the entire article please go to: http://www.forbes.com/home/free_forbes/2006/1127/173.html Read more…
Restaurants : Two Steakhouses, Two Visions
While Porter House is like an M.B.A. program for beef eaters who did undergraduate work at Outback, STK attempts to turn filets and T-bones into edible accessories for a naughty expedition to the other side of midnight. Read more…
Help Wanted: Must Love Wine, Compassion a Plus
From Seattle and San Francisco to New York and Florida, restaurants and patrons are feeling the dismaying effects of a sommelier shortage. Read more…
Pass a Drumstick, and an Olive Branch
Cooks can control the Thanksgiving menu, but when the dishes leave the kitchen, things can unravel fast. Read more…
Thanksgiving menu online
All the recipes from our Do-Ahead Thanksgiving series are available online. Go to www.mercurynews.com/ features, click on Food & Wine, then find links to Parts I, II, III, IV and V of the series.You'll find recipes for side dishes, gravy, rolls, desserts and, of course, the main attraction -- turkey. Read more…
UPCOMING REVIEWS
Rick E. Martin -- Mercury News Shrimp cupcakes and hoisin lamb chops from Bong Su. Thursday in Eye: A Quick Bite at the Cravery in Los Altos. Read more…
Bakers wowed by radical bread recipe
Lonelygirl15, have we got a link for you. The latest sensation burning up bandwidth throughout the wired universe is not an actress with a webcam, an incautious politician caught on video or a raunchy cartoon, but a recipe for bread (see story and recipe at left). Read more…
Favorite pumpkin cookies
For cookies: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or leave ungreased. In large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, spices and salt. Set aside. Read more…
Turkey roasting times
Here is a guide to approximately how long to roast turkeys of various sizes at a temperature of 325 degrees. (For a quicker bird, try the high-heat roasting recipe at www.mercurynews.com/features .) Cook the turkey until a thermometer stuck into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165-170 degrees. Read more…
How much turkey to make
Here is a guide to how much food to prepare for a crowd. For children, cut the amount of food in half. Turkey 1/2- 3/4 pound meat ( 3/4-1 pound bone-in) Read more…
Turkey trouble-shooting: Help hotlines
The stuffing is dry and the turkey is pink. Rather than let your holiday dinner turn disastrous, consider reaching out to the many groups that offer kitchen help. Read more…
Food 101: The jury is still out on benefits of tropical oils
Q With many manufacturers trying to remove trans fats from their processed foods, I am seeing an increase in the use of palm, palm fruit and palm kernel oils. Are any of those good for you? My understanding is that palm kernel oil is one of the highest in saturated fats. Is there an allowable daily limit in saturated fat intake? Read more…
Gemelli with cucumber and smoked salmon
Serves 4 Place diced cucumber in colander and toss with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then rinse under cold water and press out as much excess water as possible. Set aside. Read more…
HOLIDAY HINTS
We celebrate holidays with food, family and friends (not necessarily in that order). Here are some tips for your holiday meal: Use shallots. These are the tiny brown things in the onion section. Shallots are just about the best cooking and sauce onion. Read more…
Greasing the wheels for bacon lovers
Salty, smoky, richly flavorful and fatty, bacon is hard to resist. Even more so when it's showcased in ``Seduced by Bacon'' (Lyons Press, $24.95) by Joanna Pruess with Bob Lape. Read more…
Rachael Ray making two Bay Area stops
Rachael Ray, the Food Network's princess of perkiness, is coming to the Bay Area next month. Always a crowd favorite, Ray will be on hand at two Sur La Table stores to sign copies of her new cookbook, ``2, 4, 6, 8: Great Meals for Couples and Crowds'' (Clarkson Potter, $19.95). She'll be at the Santana Row store, 378 Santana Row in San Jose, from 1 to 3 p.m. Dec. 10 (San Jose fans get a Q&A with the author, too); and at the Berkeley store, 1806 Fourth St., from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Dec. 11. Read more…
Daniel: Beaujolais nouveau defines `drinkable now'
A juicy Beaujolais, lightly chilled, is the perfect red for summer. But the wine garners the most attention in November because of the marketing phenomenon known as Beaujolais nouveau. Read more…
Home Plates: Buck tradition by using pumpkin for cookies instead of the usual pie
I suppose I can't talk you out of making pumpkin pie. It's traditional, after all. It's as crucial as the bird and the cranberry sauce and watching cartoon characters float above the streets of Manhattan, feeling a bit smug when we see those poor East Coasters shivering in their winter wear. But if you're feeling like tossing convention out the window, this pumpkin cookie recipe might do the trick. Read more…
Ease Turkey Day turmoil with a few handy tips
Ready to cook? Here is a roundup of tips and tricks to help your Thanksgiving feast go smoothly. This is no time for elaborate hors d'oeuvres and fussy cocktails. Remember that the oven will be otherwise engaged, so what you want are dips, patés, nuts and olives. Read more…
Sandwiches with a twist put turkey to good use
The weeks of planning, shopping and cooking are over. Happily stuffed family and friends have pushed away from the table and freshly washed pots are sitting on the drainboard. Now comes the unsung blessing of Thanksgiving -- a refrigerator full of leftovers. Read more…
Great pasta recipes come in a small package
Sometimes the small-in-size cookbooks fall through the cracks. But that doesn't mean they aren't packed with some tempting and terrific recipes like those in 50 Great Pasta Sauces by Pamela Sheldon Johns (Andrews McMeel Publishing; $14. Read more…
Single-serving bubbly to try on full size
POP (Product of Pommery), an AOC champagne that stirred up the category in 1999 with the introduction of a single-serving-size 187-milliliter bottle, is now available in a full-size 750-milliliter bottle, just in time for holiday entertaining. Read more…
Pine nuts show off their buttery side
Pine nuts are expensive because of the hand labor needed in harvesting them from the pine cones of several varieties of pine trees. "There are two main varieties . . . the Mediterranean or Italian pine nut is from the stone pine. Read more…
All about cranberries: all-American beauties
Americans eat 400 million pounds of cranberries a year, 20 percent of them on Thanksgiving Day, according to Ocean Spray, a cooperative of 600 growers. But there's no reason to relegate this bright, beautiful berry to a single day. Read more…
All about turkeys: from egg to oven
In The Turkey: An American Story (University of Illinois Press, $30), food historian Andrew F. Smith turns his insatiably curious gaze on the gobbler. Herewith, some seasonal turkey trivia. Read more…