Here, food stylist and photographer Kelly Sasuga used green and red radicchio leaves, creating an eye-catching presentation.

What should you fill the leaves with? Anything you like, but here are some ideas:

 
 
ADD A GARNISH

A garnish of microgreens makes any hors d’oeuvre more attractive, sophisticated and flavorful.

If you can’t find microgreens, use snipped fresh parsley or other fresh herb for a big flavor enhancement.
 
 
DO IT EVERY DAY

If you want to eat more veggies, use radicchio spoons instead of bread to eat your daily tuna or egg salad.
  

Last year’s finalists’ dishes. Photo courtesy
San Pellegrino.

“Top Chef” draws its contestants from the kitchens of fine restaurants nationwide. But where do you turn for recognition if you’re not yet a chef, sous chef or even a line cook?

There are culinary school competitions, of course, and at least one of them—the San Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition—has a spectacular prize: $20,000 (nice) plus a year of paid internship at the restaurant of one of the finals judges (a great career opportunity). Contestants prepare a signature dish and are judged on technical skill as well as creativity and presentation.

While there’s only one top prize, every contestant is a winner, gaining exposure to prominent local chefs and members of the media who judge and mentor them along the way. As everyone knows, in life it’s not only about the talent, it’s about the connections. Everyone who enters gets to make good contacts. Since it was established in 2002, the program has helped to launch hundreds of culinary careers.

Judges for this year’s finals include executive chefs Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, Jean Joho of Everest in Chicago, Susur Lee of Lee Restaurant in Toronto, Tony Mantuano of Spiaggia in Chicago, Mark McEwan of One in Toronto, Rick Moonen of RM Seafood in Las Vegas and Michel Richard of Citronelle in Washington, D.C.

The national winners from 2011 and 2012 both hailed from Kendall College in Chicago, and are now working at two of Chicago’s finest restaurants: Blackbird and Everest. The 2010 regional winner is now teaching at Kendall College.

However, the Kendall winning streak was interrupted this year: While a Kendall College student won the regional People’s Choice Award, the regional winner headed to Napa Valley hails from from Sullivan University in Louisville, Kentucky.

See the beautiful food and the winners on the Almost Famous Chef Competition Facebook page.

One of our favorite booths at a particular trade show is Queen Bee Gardens, which makes delicious honey-sweetened chocolates and other confections.

The older, homespun couple at the booth differ from the trendy staff at other booths. But their chocolates are always a welcome respite on the tasting trail. We always stop for a sample, passing by many other booths with “been there, had that, pass ‘em by” chocolates.

In northern Wyoming, in a valley at the foot of the Rocky Mountains just east of Yellowstone National Park, sits the small farm where Clarence and Bessie Zeller raised a family of six. To support the family, they produced honey.

The hives were started from angry wild bees Clarence’s father found along the Shoshone River.

In 1976, the Zellers decided to expand into honey candy, using an old family recipe from Bessie’s ancestors in Scotland.

More recipes were developed. Pecan Pearls are melt-in-your-mouth honey pecan pralines. Truffles, English toffee and other mouthwatering confections also delight.

A red heart-shaped box of chocolate truffles is $25.17. The Queen Bee Gardens website is very plain, but these farm folks know how to make confections that are anything but plain.
  

A fusion of two favorite food groups: brownies and salty snacks. These memorable brownies may well become part of your yearly Super Bowl fare (photo © Bella Baker).

[2] Regular potato chips are fine; but if you can find cinnamon-sugar potato chips, so much the better (photo © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

[3] Pretzels add a punch of salt and crunch (photo © Lisa Fotios | Pexels).

[4] Plain salted popcorn is good; but if you have a sweet tooth, how about caramel corn (photo © National Popcorn Board).

The verb fuse, derived from Latin, means to combine or blend by melting together.

Along that line, fusion food refers to the combination of widely differing ethnic or regional ingredients or techniques. Examples include French-Thai fusion cuisine, Japanese fusion sushi* and a wide variety of pizzas: Thai chicken pizza and BBQ pizza, for example.

We love all good fusion food, but can’t name too much in the fusion baking category. Perhaps granola cookies or Rice Krispies treats count. But we knew we’d hit the jackpot with this recipe created by one of our favorite baking blogs, Bella Baker, the opus of the gifted baker Lauryn Cohen.

The recipe fuses sweet, fudgy brownies with crunchy, salty snacks—a terrific idea that just may become part of our annual Super Bowl party fare.
 
 
SUPER BOWL SNACK TIME BROWNIES

Ingredients

 
Ganache

 
Toppings

 
Preparation

1. CENTER a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Generously butter a 9×13 glass baking pan.

2. PLACE the butter in a microwave safe bowl and top with the chopped chocolate. Microwave for 45 seconds, then remove and stir vigorously with a whisk until the ingredients are just melted. You don’t want it to get so hot that the butter separates.

3. MICROWAVE for another 30 seconds, if needed to melt the chocolate completely.

4. STIR in the sugar with a whisk. Whisk in the eggs one by one. Add the vanilla extract and whisk vigorously to bring the batter together and give it a shine before gently stirring in the salt and flour; stir only until incorporated.

5. SCRAPE the batter into the pan and smooth the top with the rubber spatula.

6. BAKE the brownies for 30 to 33 minutes, or until the top is dull and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (The tip of the knife may be a touch streaky.)

7. TRANSFER the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature. While the brownies are cooling, make the ganache. Put chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring the heavy cream to a boil. Once the heavy cream has reached boiling, pour half of it over the chopped chocolate. Let sit for 30 seconds, then gently stir chocolate and cream together with a rubber spatula in a figure eight motion.

8. POUR the remaining heavy cream over chocolate and continue to gently stir. Add the butter, one piece at a time, until the ingredients are fully incorporated and the ganache is smooth and glossy.

9. POUR the ganache over the brownies; smooth with a rubber spatula to completely cover the top of the brownies. While ganache is still wet, sprinkle potato chips, pretzels and popcorn on top.

10. REFRIGERATE brownies for one hour until the ganache has set; then cut into squares.

Find many more ideas on the Bella Baker blog.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF BROWNIES

 
________________

*The California Roll, for example, is Japanese-California fusion. Avocados did not grow in Japan.

[2] The classic: a corn dog, Tater Tots, and condiments. Plus a beer (photo © Daddy’s Dogs | Nashville).

We know otherwise sophisticated gastronomes who go out of their way to visit hot dog joints that sell corn dogs.

A corn dog is a hot dog coated in a thick layer of cornmeal batter, deep fried, and served on a stick (photo #2).

While it’s not fried food on a stick, we were attracted to this mini corn dog recipe from PamperedChef.com (photo #1).

It’s good Super Bowl finger food.

All you need is a box of corn muffin mix, hot dogs, and a mini muffin pan.
 
 
NATIONAL CORN DOG DAY

Different dates can be found for National Corn Dog Day.

However, according to Wikipedia, on March 16, 2012, Oregon Governor John A. Kitzhaber issued a Proclamation declaring March 17th to be National Corndog Day (spelled as one word).

This engendered several corndog songs by fans. You can find them on YouTube, but we didn’t find one worth linking to.

> July is National Hot Dog Month, and the third Wednesday of the month is National Hot Dog Day.

> The history of corn dogs is below.

> The history of hot dogs.
 
 
MINI CORN DOGS RECIPE

Ingredients

1. PREPARE the corn muffin batter according to the package/recipe directions.

2. PREHEAT the oven to 375°F.

3. SPRAY mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. Divide the batter among the muffin cups.

4. SLICE hot dogs into 1–inch pieces. Place one piece in each muffin cup.

5. BAKE 10–12 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the centers comes out clean. When cool enough to touch, remove the corn dogs to a serving plate. Serve with mustard or dip (we mix Dijon mustard with Greek yogurt).
 
You can buy the mini muffin pan in photo #1 at PamperedChef.com.
 
 
CORN DOG HISTORY

Like the hot dog (sausage) in a bun, the corn dog is an American invention, enjoyed plain or with hog dog condiments such as ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, and relish.

Food historians note that corn dogs on sticks were around in the 1920s; patents were filed for cooking apparatuses to make them.

Various people claim to have invented the corn dog way after then, as popularity grew in the 1930s and 1940s and corn dogs became street fare and county fair fare.

The best corn dogs are fried just before serving to get that crispy crust. Heat-and-eat frozen versions are available in supermarkets—and we’d opine that Disneyland uses frozen corn dogs (they were bland and uninteresting).

Some corn dog purveyors sell these pre-made frozen corn dogs which have been thawed and then fried again or browned in an oven. If you care, ask before you buy from a vendor (and hope for an honest answer).

In 2012, Oregon Governor John A. Kitzhaber issued a Proclamation declaring March 17, 2012 to be National Corndog Day. Corndog was spelled as a compound noun. Since hot dog is two words, we prefer the same for corn dog.

The first celebration was informal and involved corn dogs and basketball. In subsequent years, National Corndog Day fare expanded to include Tater Tots and beer.

The holiday gradually spread across the U.S. and beyond. According to Wikipedia, operations for National Corndog Day are governed by a board of directors consisting of event hosts (or “city captains”) in participating cities in the U.S.

Here’s another origin story from Oregon, where the corn dog is called the Pronto Pup.
 
 

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