Category Archives: Chicago Foodways Roundtable

LOW AND SLOW BBQ

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Presented by
Gary Wiviott and Colleen Rush

Podcast courtesy of WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified

Step away from the propane tank. Surrender all of your notions about barbecue. Forget everything you’ve ever learned about cooking with charcoal and fire. It is all wrong. Get it right with the “Five Easy Lessons” program, which includes step-by-step instructions for setting up and cooking low and slow on a Weber Smokey Mountain, an offset smoker, or a kettle grill.

This program is guided by a singular philosophy: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Do exactly as Gary says, don’t even think about opening the lid before it’s time, and you will learn:

  • What gear you do and, more importantly, don’t need
    • Exactly how to start and maintain a proper fire (without lighter fluid)
    • To use your senses and trust your instincts (instead of thermometers)
    • How to make delicious, delicious barbecue

Gary Wiviott is a barbecue life coach. From the popular online tutorial that started it all to his lively cooking demonstrations and teaching diehards how to set up a smoker in Chicago’s notoriously brutal winter weather, he is committed to spreading the gospel of low and slow barbecue. He is no stranger to the most popular national barbecue forums and food communities, including TheSmokeRing.com, Slow Food USA and the Society for the Preservation of Traditional Southern Barbecue. Gary is also a founder of LTHForum.com, the Chicago-based Culinary chat site.

Colleen Rush is a food writer and the author of “The Mere Mortal’s Guide to Fine Dining: From Salad Forks to Sommeliers, How to Eat and Drink in Style Without Fear of Faux Pas” (Broadway, 2006).  She knew very little (okay, nothing) about barbecue before meeting Gary—thought nothing of using lighter fluid—but has since reformed her ways and makes a damn fine pulled pork sandwich.

There will be books available and pulled pork prepared by a graduate to taste after the program.

Program hosted at Kendall College.

THE HAUTE CUISINE OF ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

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Presented by
Karen Wilson, Oriental Institute Research Associate

Oriental Institute Museum
1155 E 58th St
Chicago, Illinois

Cost: $7 per person

The ancient land of Mesopotamia — today’s Iraq — really did have a haute cuisine, with remarkable recipes for amazing dishes all recorded in cuneiform script on ancient clay tablets.  The Oriental Institute Museum features some of the tablets, as well as many other artifacts related to cuisine and cookery in ancient Iraq.

The Oriental Institute’s exhibit on ancient Mesopotamia contains a world-renowned collection of art and artifacts that range from prehistoric times (even some food preparation implements from then!) all the way up to a time when the kings of ancient Babylon ruled the known world (as is mentioned in the Bible).

Karen Wilson, the Museum’s former director and currently an Oriental Institute Research Associate, has a special interest in Mesopotamian cuisine and cookery.  She was curator of the Museum’s Mesopotamian collection and is author of an upcoming book highlighting the importance of that collection.

Kitchens: The Culture of Restaurant Work

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Presented by
Gary Alan Fine, Ph.D. (GAF of LTHforum)

Podcast by Chicago Amplified of WBEZ Chicago

When the original research for Kitchens: The Culture of Restaurant Work was conducted in the 1980s, no broad, demanding public existed for fine dining. To be sure, gourmets were to be found in large cities and restaurants like Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse had made the Bay Area ground zero for what was to become an American dining revolution. Continue reading →