The Takedown

COMPETITOR LIST IS CLOSED! But come on down and try all the brilliant lamb recipes!  Email me me get on my Boston mailing list!  …and let’s do this over at The Middle East, February 28th!!!

My awesomest girl pal wrote a book. For real. The girl is Cathy Erway. The book is The Art of Eating In. As you all probably already know, Cathy is not down with eating out. She wants y’all to cook. And for her book launch party at the Bell House– she’s throwing a Crostini Cook-off!!!

Here’s what you need to know…

Thursday, Feburary 18, 7-11 pm, The Bell House, 149 7th Street between 2nd & 3rd Aves, Brooklyn, close to Smith/9th Street and 4th/9th on the F and G trains.

Advance tickets recommended, on sale now!$10 admission includes tastes from crostini cook-off entries, appetizers from Hapa Kitchen and A Razor A Shiny Knife, beer specials, music all night. All guests must present ID to gain entry.

COOK OFF DETAILS:

Your crostini entry can be anything (really, anything) topping a toasted slice of bread (a.k.a. crostini). Please bring it ready to assemble and serve on location, as there won’t be cooking facilities, and anyplatters or utensils you may need to use (napkins will be provided). Winners will be determined by judges, and the audience vote. Prizes donated by the Brooklyn Kitchen, and more!

To be part of the Crostini Cook-Off, email your entry with subject heading “crostini cook-off,” and plan to make about 100 crostini! Prizes will be plentiful, judges will include chef/author Louisa Shafia, Just Food staff, and Cathy’s mom.

CATEGORY: General |

Ewe will be rocked.

COMPETITOR LIST IS CLOSED!!! EMAIL ME TO GET ON THE MAILING LIST, and NEVER MISS ANOTHER CALL FOR COMPETITORS!!!

The Lamb Takedown thunderbolted Manhattan in ’09. Now… we take Boston.  The sweetest amateur cook-off  is BACK in town! Don’t miss out!!! Get your tickets now! Or stop by the Middle East box office!!!

Cooks! You are holding aces!!! Allow me to explain your awesome situation: the first 20 amateurs to sign up will each be given 15 lbs of lamb to cook with!!! Choose between shoulder, shank, leg, or ground! Now, think- what the crap are you going to do with all that beautiful meat? For inspiration, consider previous takedowns, and check out some media photo essays, or go out on your own limb. No recipe is too yummy! Tons of great prizes from Le Creuset and the American Lamb Board! Sign up now, sign up fast…

Lamb fans! For a mere $15, come on down to the Middle East, February 28 at 4PM and stuff yourself on each and every recipe. If you think you might love lamb, you’ll know after this day is through-  lamb is hands down the noblest meat in all the land- and the cutest! Expect tons of lamb swag – just for showing up!!! As an honored guest of the Takedown, you’ve only one responsibility: to vote on the dopest lamb dish!!! Heavy lies the crown on the head of the Boston Lamb Takedown King,  so choose wisely…  TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE HERE and at TICKETMASTER- STAY TUNED!

And did you know that this is “Lamb Lovers Month“?  If, right now, you aren’t already pushing as much lamb as possible through your faces, you are wasting time.

My beautiful sponsor, The American Lamb Board, rulz.

prize sponsor!

Le Creuset is donating generously,  and the prizes are incredible!!! The top three recipes in the Judges and People’s Choice categories will receive Le Creuset pots, pans, and stoneware casseroles! That’s $1000 worth of Le Creuset cooking gear!!! I know!!! Seriously!!!!

CATEGORY: General |

Introducing the official game show of the Takedown … the MIND KITCHEN!!! When we were little, my brother and sister invented this game.  I was invited by Heritage Radio Network  to steal it from them in order to sell out and make millions! This food-centric radio station broadcasts out of Roberta’s Pizza in Brooklyn!

Here’s the rules: contestants are given 5 ingredients and a vast imaginary kitchen with which to create a 3-course meal, using only the ingredients and a few basics- salt, sugar, butter, oil…  using only paper and pencil, they get to work in the kitchen… in their minds.

Adam Aleksander (director of unprecedentedevents.com), Rachel Wharton (Editor of Edible Brookyln, Edible Manhattan Magazines) and George Motz (director of The New York Food Film Festival) were my first guests. They blew the show out of the water and onto the beach, where it festered in the hot sun! While they considered how best to use coconut, lima beans, hot dogs, sweet potatoes and peanut butter, I played heavy music (Slo Burn, Melvins, and Weedeater)  in the breaks and bantered! Hope you enjoy this first attempt! And if you don’t, we can call the next episode “controversial” …

Rachel Wharton went straight home and blogged about it at Edible Manhattan! Just so you know!

P.S. here’s some discarded Mind Kitchen logos:

Hell yeah! Right?

pic by Kelly Neal, Metromix

All the cooks were winners this time. I know, because late night (2AM), I actually got sit back and try all the varsity yummy cookies myself. These people are experts, and they deserve the utmost thanks for being so dope!!!

pic by Kelly Neal, Metromix

Thanks also to the Bell House for an awesome space, Baked for wicked perfect prizes, and Bulleit Bourbon and Zacapa Rum for generously sponsoring this event!!!

pic by Kelly Neal, Metromix

Check out hottt pics at Metromix!!! Check out the hilarious write up in the Village Voice- thanks to writer Alex Van Buren!  Time Out NY checked the magic as well!

pic by Kelly Neal, Metromix

Here’s a list of the winners!

1st place Judges – Nicholetta Canaras – Choca-ho-lick’s cookie
2nd Place Judges – R. Tianna Lawrence – Death By Chocolate Chipp’d Cookies
3rd Place Judges – Melissa Denchak – oatmeal-apple-cranberry crumb cookies

People’s Choice :
TIE for FIRST:
Rachel Anderson (Lee Frank and Dan Piccoli representing) – Nacho cookies (!)
and
Emily Hanhan (who posted her recipe on her blog!) Not Your Mama’s Chocolate Chip Cookies (w Sea Salt)

2nd Place Aimee Bariteau – “Oreo” cookies!

All these contestants blew away our hearts and minds last night, for two hours of hard core superfun, They deserve a spontanious round of applause, whether you’re reading this in your cubicle, or you called in sick and are still in bed, like me:

Katie Adams
Hanhan Emily
Melissa Denchak
laura wyatt
Jen Wanous
Shon Morris
Lisa Lee
Meg Westfox
Phoebe Lapin
R. LAWRENCE
Noah B
Juliana Vail
jane.hansen
grace.g.yang
jaret Stezelberger
Erika Loseman and Jaret
Claire Frisbie
alexis stephens
Beth Greenberg
Yoko Nitta
Aimee Bariteau
Leni Santoro
Lee Frank
nicholetta canaras
Moujan Zolfaghari
Michelle Rabinowitz
Hilary Preston
Susan Dobkowski
Denise Burrell-Stinson

Hey cookie scenesters! Happy holidays! Destroy the night always!

Another takedown awaits us! As does the oft unappreciated but appreciated soundtracks to each takedown – hevvy and brootal as usual! Bulleit Bourbon and Zacapa Rum will be poured into the free egg nog, so don’t be scared to drink heavily from the cup of fun on Sunday!

Sample 30 different cookies, and think with your smartest brain, what baked good deserves the Takedown mantle of glory?

Also, there’s a Hot Chocolate Crawl that will end at the Bell House – for those of you in a righteous holiday mood – and want it to last all day!!! Check it out!!!

And its not all sweet stuff – for those multi-dimensional foodsters amongst you, I have a new hot sauce for sale that should make your head pop off.  Pick up a bottle of Facemelter up on the way out the door- save the holidays from unspiced normalcy…

Thanks to the spiritual and emotional strength of Mark Bernal, another of our Takedowners, you get to find out FACTS about chili. His words are like honey, his mind a furnace. Enjoy learning, dudes!

pics by Alan Dickson

It’s tough being the awesomest amateur cooking event in all the land – when people come to the Brooklyn Chili Takedown, they expect the best of the best – and I have to deliver. Good thing I could rely on 28 of the baddest (meaning good) cooks ever! Their vicious attitude and blood lust contributed to a full blown chili riot on the dance floor!

Check out the Village Voice slide show here, from photog Mollye Chudacoff! And Metromix was super awesome too!!! Continue reading →

Competitor Jenn De La Vega tips her hat to the Takedown in her web food show- Facts ‘n Cheese! She blows the lid off chili, goat cheese, and cheese allergies… kick back and enjoy Jenn here and at blt-idm.blogspot.com !!!  Thanks Jenn, for being a repeat repeat offender at various Takedowns over the years!!!  Give her a glad hand Sunday at the Bell House!

Facts N’ Cheese Episode 10: Paprika Goat Cheese from BLT / IDM on Vimeo.

Big Girls Small Kitchen preps to dominate as well. Will they? Probably. Maybe. Definitely. I just don’t know.

28 others are staying highly secretive about their batches – but I have an idea they will unleash themselves like lions, intent to kill the Christians cowering in the center of the Roman Forum.  In this particular analogy- you, the attendees, are the cowering Christians…

The Takedown Facemelter will be available at the upcoming Brooklyn Chili Takedown– so look out! I’ve designed a new and frightful hot sauce, utilizing the scolville terror of Habaneros and Jalapenos with the sweetness of golden  raisins and honey! I tested and retested – so this recipe is the absolute best- and a MUST  to season all your food from now till forevermore!

I call it the Facemelter, but don’t worry – it’s not one of those Ruin Your Day Sauces – this is a fun, enjoyable, and perfect condiment for sale here.

Get your wallets ready- if you want your friends and family to love you this holiday season!