Chicken skin becoming trendy, deep-fried macaroni and cheese, Jason Alexander shills for Jenny Craig
• Food and Wine’s Mouthing Off blog is predicting that chicken skin will usurp bacon as a trendy fatty food in 2010. The long-verboten food item is enjoying a resurgence in BLTs (CSLTs?), crisped and scattered like croutons. In perhaps the most telling promo for chicken skin, David Chang, a hot New York City chef, is serving it at his hugely popular eatery Momofuku Ko as a garnish with pasta. [Food and Wine]
• New Year’s resolutions be damned. The Globe and Mail has issued a list of the best places to get deep-fried macaroni and cheese. Reggie’s Old Fashioned Sandwiches scores for its rendition, served as sticks. Bryan Burke, co-owner of Reggie’s, bet on the restaurant’s proximity to the entertainment district drawing in drunken revellers who would love a cheesy treat. [Globe and Mail]
• For those who may actually be trying to lose some holiday weight (as opposed to eating chicken skin or deep-fried mac-and-cheese), Seinfeld star Jason Alexander has signed on to sing the praises of Jenny Craig. Mercifully, Alexander has vetoed posing in a bikini, like recently slimmed Jenny Craig-er Valerie Bertinelli. [New York Post]
• Mental Floss presents a fun quiz comparing Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavours to Pottery Barn paint colours. We scored a respectable nine out of 12, meaning we either have to lay off the frozen treats for a while or stop redecorating our living room for a while. [Mental Floss]
• The Edmonton Oilers know how to ring in a new year. Forty-five hockey players and guests wined and dined to the tune of $16,796.39 at the Calgary restaurant Osteria de Medici. The Oilers attempted to bargain down the price and even refused to pay altogether. Restaurant owner Maurizio Terrigno knocked $6,000 off the bill but still complained to the media about the team’s behaviour. News outlets are making a big deal about it all, but if this is the worst behaviour Canada’s hockey teams engage in, we think the NHL could use some spicing up. [Canada.com]
The wonders of chicken skin is so old news. Jewish people have known about this forever. The skin is cooked down – called greven – and the fat rendered is called schmaltz. Doth used in various ways. Glad to see the rest of the world is catching on.