‘Good Eats’ at the Orange County Fair

Greer Wylder

Alton Brown is the writer and host of the Food Network’s top-rated

cooking show “Good Eats.” He was in town for an educational and fun

and one-hour cooking show at the 111th annual Orange County Fair.

More than 500 loyal fans attended, many forced to stand on the on the

sides of the outdoor Heritage Stage.

Brown was the first of three chefs in the fair’s Celebrity Chef

Series presented by the Art Institute of California-Orange County.

Curtis Aikens, co-host of the Food Network’s “Calling All Cooks,” put

on a cooking show Thursday, and Aaron Sanchez, co-host of the

“Melting Pot,” was also at the fair Thursday.

Brown, in his late 30s, comes across as a nerdy scientific genius,

but he jokingly said that he barely made it out of high school.

College took him eight years. He has short spiky blond hair, wears

hip sunglasses and casual clothes. He looks more like a computer

programmer than a celebrity chef.

His love of cooking wasn’t inherited from his parents. A child of

the ‘60s, Brown said his mom and dad worked and didn’t cook. He

mostly remembers Rice-a-Roni meals.

Brown started out as a director of commercials, but his favorite

pastime was food: eating, reading cookbooks and watching cooking

shows, which he viewed as too boring. Brown’s wife, DeAnna, a

producer, suggested he make a career change, so they moved to Vermont

so he could attend the New England Culinary Institute. It was during

his schooling and working that Brown started to develop the “Good

Eats” show concept.

Brown’s approach to cooking combines humor, science and the

history of foods. He delves into a food’s origin. He inspects its

interesting qualities and offers expert advice on how it should be

cooked, rather than robotically following a recipe.

“You can get cooking experience from following recipes, but you

cannot learn how to cook by them,” Brown said.

He argued that cooking is like navigating. “If I gave you

directions to my house, you could find it, but without a map, you

won’t know where you are. Recipes are directions, not maps.”

He used a tomato soup demonstration coincide with the Fair’s “Red,

Ripe and Rockin’,” tomato theme. First, Brown gave his audience the

history of the tomato. Although tomatoes are a mainstay of Italian

cuisine, they are actually a native berry of the Americas. It can be

traced back to the Andes. It was domesticated by the Aztecs in what

is now Mexico. Spanish conquistadors brought tomato seeds to Europe

in the early 1500s.

Although respected for its aesthetic quality, some feared tomatoes

were poisonous even in the 19th century, especially in England and

America. Southern Europeans weren’t as skeptical and incorporated

tomatoes in their cuisine. As for the interminable vegetable or fruit

debate, Brown says the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that it’s a

vegetable. In 1887, the decision was mostly reached to benefit

American growers: vegetables, unlike fruits, can be taxed when

imported.

“You’ll never get a good tomato in a grocery store,” Brown said.

“Grow your own.” Commercial tomatoes don’t have the same flavor, and

tomatoes only ripen on the vine.

Brown says he prefers tomatoes fresh off the vine, with salt and

fresh basil; in gazpacho; and in Bloody Mary’s. Besides their

inherent delicious flavor, Brown says their lycopene content helps

prevent prostate cancer.

At first glance, Brown’s quick tomato soup recipe looks too

simple: olive oil, garlic, onion, tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper,

white wine and balsamic vinegar.

Most cooks could go through that recipe in a minute, but that’s

not Brown’s style. He explains every detail of the process. He

chooses a pressure cooker to maintain the tomato’s flavor, which

Brown says comes from a time sensitive volatile substance known as

Z-3-Hexanol. It’s gone after 20 minutes of heat. Also, Brown says,

tomato flavor by itself is one-dimensional.

“Like Tony Orlando,” Brown said. “He’s not good alone. He needs

good back-up.”

Since tomatoes are berries, Brown said they need water-soluble

alcohol or fat-soluble oils to liberate their flavors. Other

preferable supporting flavors are members of the lily family: garlic,

onion, leeks and scallions.

Interestingly, Brown doesn’t recommend any certain tomato for the

soup.

“There are 1,700 varieties of tomatoes,” Brown said. “Use any

tomato.”

Brown chose to sweat onions, rather than saute, which he says

opens up the flavors and doesn’t cause browning. He used olive oil

used for a good cooking environment and supporting flavor.

Next, how to get the flavor out of the cell of the tomato?

Cellulose, which is basically vegetable cement, can be extracted by

placing it in the blender, and through cooking.

Up until four years ago, Brown considered pressure cookers

antiques, but now he adores them. By raising the boiling point, he

said, foods cook faster, and important flavors remain.

He recommends an eight-quart cooker. Brown adds wine to kill two

culinary birds with one stone. The soup needs liquid and alcohol

soluble flavors. In 10 minutes, the soup’s done. In a standard pot,

it could take 45 minutes to an hour -- the Z-3-Hexanol, long gone.

The idea for Brown’s last step comes from salad dressing.

“Good salad dressing must be emulsified,” he said.

Oil adds texture and provides emulsion. After putting oil in the

blender, the soup’s color went from red to orange from a chemical

change. Brown added salt and vinegar to bring out sweetness. He said

that basil and chives could enhance the flavor, too.

Brown was asked to name his favorite restaurant.

“Rose’s Donuts in Corona del Mar,” Brown said. “I went in for

three doughnuts, came out with a dozen, and got in the car with

three.”

His favorite TV show is “MacGyver.” Favorite “Good Eats” episode,

“In the Bulb of the Night,” the garlic show shot through the eyes of

a vampire. And all-time favorite food, cheeseburgers.

Brown says he has no brand loyalty, but he likes Shun kitchen

knives, and prefers Japanese steel to German, but he did have good

things to say about Messermeister.

After the show, Brown graciously signed copies of his book, “I’m

Just Here for the Food,” published in 2002, for two hours. His next

book, due in the fall, focuses on kitchen tools, offering 25 recipes.

You can give Brown’s expertise a try at home. Here’s his recipe:

Chef Alton Brown’s Less Than 10-Minute Tomato Soup

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, smashed

1 large onion, chopped

10 Roma tomatoes, stemmed and seeded

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup white wine 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Using a paring knife, remove the stems for the tomatoes, then cut

in half, and seed.

In a pressure cooker, sweat onions and garlic in 1 tablespoon of

olive oil until translucent. Add all the remaining ingredients except

the 2 remaining tablespoons of olive oil and the vinegar. Clamp on

the lid. Increase the heat to high, and allow pressure in cooker to

build. When the pressure vent on the top of the cooker is releasing

steam at a constant stream, turn the heat down to low. Continue

cooking for 6 minutes.

Turn off heat, release pressure and remove lid. Transfer mixture

to blender. Add balsamic vinegar and puree, adding remaining olive

oil in a steady stream while the motor is running. Strain through a

fine mesh strainer into a glass bowl. Serve into individual bowls

with ladle.

Yields 3 cups.

*

Wolfgang Puck Cafe at Fashion Island offers a special dining

package to coincide with the annual Summer Concert Series held

Wednesdays in the Bloomingdale’s Courtyard. Special reservations can

be made for patio dining where guests can enjoy the concert and a

three-course prix fixe dinner.

The cafe’s dinner features Wolfgang Puck specialties such as three

tomato bruschetta, New York steak with garlic mashed potatoes,

rosemary rotisserie chicken and fettuccini wolf-fredo. Dinners

include a selection from dessert menu, with favorites such as oatmeal

apple crisp, creme brulee sampler and key lime pie. Wine is available

by the glass or bottle.

Concert dinners are $40, excluding beverages, taxes and 18%

gratuity. Reservations are recommended between 6 and 6:30 p.m. for

the 7 p.m. concert. The Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe is at Fashion Island

in Newport Beach. (949) 720-9653.

*

Villa Nova Restaurant has added a summer Happy Hour. Specials on

drinks and half-off appetizers offered in the waterfront lounge from

5 to 7 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. Pure Imagination, a popular

house band, featuring Mike McKenna, performs every Tuesday and

Friday; and Ed Waters performs every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Show tunes, popular music and classic favorites are featured.

Villa Nova is at 3131 W. Coast Highway in Newport Beach. Call

(949) 642-7880 or visit www.villanovarestaurant.com.

* BEST BITES runs every Friday. Greer Wylder can be reached at

greerwylder@yahoo.com; at 330 W. Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; or by

fax at (949) 646-4170.