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A Taste Of The Stew

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By JEFF HOUCK | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 13, 2007

STONE COMES TO HARD ROCK: The recipe for Curtis Stone's success on the TLC cooking show "Take Home Chef" is simple: He's hunky; he's Australian; he can cook.

That's the premise employed on the show, which features Stone ambushing attractive women in grocery stores and enticing them to take him home so he can cook for them and their mates.

On Saturday, Stone will come to Tampa for the first time to be part of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino's grand opening of the newly completed Fresh Harvest dining area and the Council Oak steaks and seafood restaurant. They are part of a 150,000-square-foot casino expansion.

Stone will greet fans from 1 to 3 p.m. at the second-floor dining area and do a cooking demonstration at 4 p.m. Tickets are $60 and are on sale at the Hard Rock store in the casino and through Ticketmaster, which adds a $7.50 "convenience charge."

Stone spoke to me last week for a Table Conversations podcast, during which he admitted that his producers do screen grocery patrons on their way into the store, then tie strings on their carts to let him know which shoppers wouldn't mind being approached by a camera crew.

I told him I thought TLC needed to do a version where a female, maybe even Catherine Zeta-Jones, would ambush men in grocery stores in eastern Hillsborough County. He said he would shop a lot more if that were a possibility.

To listen to the podcast, go online to my blog, The Stew, at TBO.com, keyword: Stew.

TOFFEE STOP: The Junior League of Tampa's Holiday Gift Market at the Florida State Fairgrounds on Saturday focused mostly about showcasing clothing, accessories and holiday adornments, but there were some culinary gems to be found.

Lisa Schalk was handing out samples of her Toffee to Go candy with her family and friends. Schalk and her husband, Jim, cook their milk chocolate almond, dark chocolate pecan and white chocolate macadamia toffees in South Tampa based on a family recipe.

The company sells holiday toffee tins, boxes and bags and also produces private-label boxes and tins for corporate events and clients. Schalk said they recently started putting a sticker over the openings of some boxes because customers were telling them that they were digging in for a taste before they could give the toffee as gifts.

BREAKFAST ON THE GO: Having trouble pulling together breakfast for your kid? Boxes of Breakfast Breaks contain single servings of General Mills bowl pack cereal made with whole grains, a Minute Maid fruit juice box and a nutritious snack.

Each kit is packaged in a recyclable box with a handle and easy-to-open flip-up lid so that it can be eaten at home or on the go. The boxes sell in groceries for $2.49.

CHAFING OVER CHAFING DISHES: A couple of weeks ago, I cooked fresh bratwurst for an Oktoberfest in Lithia. When the sausages came off the grill, they went straight into two aluminum chafing pans. One was filled with sauerkraut and the other with beer and a little bit of butter. That kept the brats tender and juicy and hot.

Chafers are great for holiday use, but not all are created equal. The makers of Skorr wire chafers in Patterson, N.J., say that some wire supports for chafers imported from China won't support heavy loads and are covered in chromium, a heavy metal.

For tips on using chafing dishes, go to my blog.

Hungry for more? Read Jeff Houck's multimedia food blog, The Stew, at keyword: Stew.

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