Culinary Resolutions For 2011 From The Daily Meal
I resolve to eat more healthily. To eat less. More vegetables. Not as much pork fat. I resolve to... oh, stop.
We resolved to do things differently. We asked a number of our favorite chefs for their culinary resolutions. If you haven't seen these, check out the slideshow. More than thirty chefs from seven cities offer their resolutions (and dreams) for their restaurants, their cuisines, and their own eating habits in 2011.
As for us, you've read the best things we ate in 2010 and our predictions for 2011. Now here are our own culinary resolutions — based on our love of food, not our fear of it. Eating Turkish food in Turkey, buying quality cookware, outer-borough eating, canning, soufflé-honing, a movement against the word 'foodie,' food pilgrimages and more.
Colman Andrews, Editorial Director:
I studied Ottoman history at UCLA and love almost every example I've ever had of Middle Eastern cooking — much of which is Turkish in origin (whether or not the folks who eat it today like to admit that). But for no particularly good reason, I have never been to Turkey. My resolution for 2011 is to finally get there and eat lots of great Turkish food at its source.
Molly Aronica, Asst. Community Editor
My food resolutions are to cook more food on the grill, and to eat more locally grown fruits and vegetables. And to eat from more food trucks around New York City.
Allison Beck, Entertain Editor:
I've recently become a lobster/crab lover. So I want to try more seafood in New York City — seek out really good fat mussels. I also want to start braising short-ribs at home. Never done it at home...yet. And to perfect my soufflé.
Arthur Bovino, Senior Editor/Eat
To give Defonte's roast beef another shot and do a GutterGourmet hero tour; finally eat at Per Se, French Laundry, or Masa; revisit Chico's Tacos in El Paso; and knock off some food pilgrimages: Voodoo Doughnut (Portland, OR), Bobcat Bite (Santa Fe, NM), Incanto (San Francisco), minibar (D.C.), Pizzeria Bianco (Phoeniz, AZ), Alinea (Chicago), Abattoir and The Varsity (Atlanta, GA), White Manna/White Mana (NJ), Texas BBQ tour (Smitty's, Salt Lick, Black's and Kreuz), and to do O Ya, Clio and Uni. Oh yeah, and to battle Five Guys hype and second the movement to banish the word, 'foodie.'
Maryse Chevrière, Drink Editor
Reduce restaurant and dish repeat-offending. In an effort to try more places and try new things at my favorite restaurants, I resolve to cut down on returning to the same restaurants, and if I do return, to try dishes other than my standbys. Except at Pearl, where it's always going to be fried oysters and a lobster roll. Oh, and to try to stop being a predictable whiskey-lush — trying other liquors and unfamiliar cocktails. Oh, most importantly, I resolve to further the Movement to Eliminate the Word 'Foodie.'
Yasmin Fahr, Cook Editor:
I have two resolutions. I want to actually make my own fruit jam this summer even though I say I will every year and never do. And I want to eat at Minetta Tavern for dinner, and start with the Black Label Burger for an appetizer, and then follow it with the Côte de Boeuf.
Valaer Murray, Managing Editor:
My resolution is to outfit my kitchen with better quality cookware. I've recently started a good collection of multi-clad pots and pans, and I'm weaning myself off of non-stick pans, but this year I'm going for cast-iron and copper cookware too. It's like the coming-of-age process of replacing your college Ikea furniture with longer-lasting investment pieces.
Jeff Zalaznick, Restaurant Editor:
Eat more in the outer boroughs, get deeper into the Chinatown scene, and eat at more iconic American BBQ places.