Business

On the Deen’s list

Does food taste better when the recipes come from celebrity chefs? We’re not sure, but their lives give you something to talk about while you’re finding out.

We were very excited when the July/August issue of Cooking with Paula Deen landed in our mailbox. We hadn’t paid her much notice before her recent comments on using the N-word surfaced, y’all, and wondered if her last before-the-controversy effort would give us some insight into the Southern ding-dong. It did. Turns out she doesn’t have many original ideas in her 400,000-circulation magazine. For example, four of the last six summer issues featured hamburgers on the cover. Inside the latest, the same old tired summer clichés: summer fruit cocktails, ice cream, dining outside, a trip to the lake, etc. Paula also shows her many loyal fans her re-decorated kitchen. It must run in the family as her son, Jamie, shows off his new kitchen in the July/August Food Network magazine. On page 83, Paula shows off the board of her new charity, The Bag Lady Foundation. Not a single African-American on the 11-person board. But we don’t want to leave you thinking there is nothing worth reading. Paula does pass along this tip: The best way to store onions at home is in a pair of nylons. Just tie a knot between each one, she says. There, now you can spend your $4.99 on something a lot more satisfying.

Few celebrity chefs get the zeitgeist of today’s foodie better than Jamie, and that surely comes through in Jamie Oliver’s monthly magazine. How many of his peers would think of reviewing food-related books? Have regular wine features? List the per-serving nutritional facts of each recipe? (On the last point, it is shocking that Deen, who caught heat for her usual sugar- and fat-laden recipes, does not do this. Or maybe it isn’t.) While Oliver this year introduced a US version of his UK monthly, we loved the original so much — it’s easily available at most bookstores — we couldn’t resist. Sure, the recipes, in grams and milliliters and such, can be a bit much, but we say go get a conversion chart and start the experience. The June UK effort is the Italian issue and offers up much more than the usual fare. The pappardelle with beef filet from chef Theo Randall is simple, delicious and uses the oft-overlooked ultra-wide noodle. Oliver also serves up a travel/food feature on Bologna, the northern Italy foodie paradise. While it is just pedestrian from start to finish, the story shows why we love the magazine. It’s got spunk. We like spunk.

As celebrity chef mags go, Martha Stewart
Living offers only a light presence of the domestic diva. Sure, her name is on the masthead, but there are multicolored grilled tomatoes on the cover. Her vision is aptly translated, however. While others might focus on honey, Martha’s do-it-better M.O. sees her in a head-to-toe beekeeping outfit tending to the hive. This queen bee then suggests ways to use that perfect substance: a hostess gift perhaps? Her high standards are applied by Editor-in-Chief Pilar Guzman, who delivers the insanely delicious spread on ice cream. This isn’t your ordinary vanilla, though; there’s a guide to making a mind-blowing array of tastes: avocado cilantro or sweet corn and basil, fig and chocolate chunks. So what if you’ll never pull it off? Who cares? It’s triple-X food porn for dreamers.

Is Gov. Andrew Cuomo enjoying no-fuss meals and refreshing drinks sipped with friends on his patio? Apparently, based on his girlfriend and celebrity chef Sandra Lee’s note at the beginning of her self-titled magazine. Sandra Lee Magazine is full of “joy” and summer yellow. There is a section on luscious lemon tree cakes, but it is more than that. The pictures of food accompanying her recipes are all bright and often include a tinge of yellow, whether it is “citrus squeeze” cocktails or lemon sorbet between lemon cookies. Apparently, summer fun includes family, as her sister Kimber also offers her favorite pasta recipes. This is more about a Martha Stewart feel without Martha’s panache, including a suggestion on putting your powder laundry detergent in a jar to brighten up your laundry room. We’re guessing the guv does not wash his own clothes.