Island Culinary & Ecological Center.News and Updates

MARK BITTMAN IS COMING TO DEER ISLE ON AUGUST 13th and 14th

AUGUST 13th, 6:30-8:30,

A TALK ON "FOOD, PAST AND FUTURE" FOLLOWED BY A PANEL DISCUSSION WITH GUESTS

The Guests:

MARK BITTMAN

Mark Bittman, one of the country's best-known and widely admired food writers and television personalities, is known for his candor, straightforward, no-nonsense style, and simple recipes. He is the creator of the beloved New York Times cooking column "The Minimalist" (now in its eleventh year), accompanying web videos, and daily blog; he's the author of several blockbuster cookbooks; and he appears regularly on both commercial and public television, where he has his own series.
Mr. Bittman's best-selling How to Cook Everything (which won the IACP/Julia Child award, the James Beard award, and three international cookbook awards) is the bible of basic cooking for millions of Americans and the completely revised 10th anniversary edition was just published this fall.

How to Cook Everything Vegetarian (winner of an IACP/Julia Child award and nominee for a James Beard award) was one of the best-selling cookbooks of 2007 and is on track to change the way America cooks. Mr. Bittman will push his sane eating agenda further with the release of his groundbreaking work on food, diet, and the environment, Food Matters (Simon and Schuster, January 2009).

In addition to his writing, Mr. Bittman is also the host of the Public Television series Bittman Takes on America's Chefs, which first aired in spring 2005 and won the James Beard Award for the best cooking series of 2005; it continues to run regularly. The second season, The Best Recipes in the World, is currently airing on public television. His third PBS series, with Gwyneth Paltrow and Mario Batali, called Spain: On the Road Again, will air this September. He also appears twice a month on NBC's Today show, alternating Wednesday appearances with Martha Stewart.

In the late 1990s, Mr. Bittman created a best-selling collaboration with the internationally celebrated chef, Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Their classic, Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef, is widely considered to be among the most accessible chef's cookbooks ever published. Mr. Bittman's first book, Fish-The Complete Guide to Buying and Cooking is the best-selling contemporary book on the subject. Among his other works are the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World and the award-winning "Minimalist" cookbooks, now collected in Mark Bittman's Simple and Easy Recipes from the New York Times.

http://www.howtocookeverything.tv/aboutbittman.php.html

MAINE CONGRESSWOMAN CHELLIE PINGREE

Chellie Pingree never anticipated a life in politics. She came to Maine in the 1970s, inspired by Helen and Scott Nearing’s book Living the Good Life. After earning a degree in human ecology from the College of the Atlantic, where she was fortunate to study with Eliot Coleman, and be involved in the early days of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, she started an organic farm on the island of North Haven (winter population of 380). She sold vegetables, eggs and the milk from three cows as well and raising sheep. Eventually the yarn from the sheep helped create a thriving mail order knitting business, North Island Designs, that eventually employed ten people in her small community.

Chellie is still an organic farmer and small business owner today, owning and operating the Nebo Lodge and Restaurant on North Haven, which features locally grown food from the 200 year old Turner Farm, which she and her husband, Donald Sussman, have been working to restore. They produce vegetables, meat and goat cheeses.

After serving on the local school board, and as the town’s tax assessor, Chellie went on to serve eight years in the Maine Senate, become the national CEO of Common Cause and in 2008 was elected to represent Maine in the United States Congress.

As a member of the Agriculture Committee in Congress, Chellie is passionate about supporting local and sustainable agriculture and firmly committed to helping reform farm policy with the interests of small farmers and consumers in mind — even when it requires “swimming upstream.”

http://pingree.house.gov/

SLESBORO FOOD HISTORIAN SANDY OLIVER

Sandy Oliver Sandy Oliver, left, on her way back to the house from the mailbox, began working in food history in 1971 when she founded the fireplace cooking program at Mystic Seaport Museum. She continues researching historic foodways, speaks before professional and public audiences at museums, historical and culinary organizations.

Sandy teaches historic recipe research and responds to media requests on historic food. When asked, she provides training programs in historic cooking for museum interpreters, She is the author of Saltwater Foodways and Food in Colonial and Federal America. She co-authored Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving History and Recipes with Kathleen Curtin of Plimoth Plantation. In 2008, Saltwater Foodways Companion Cookbook was published, a recipes-only paperback version of the recipes from Saltwater Foodways.

http://www.foodhistorynews.com/about.html

LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED

$15.00 PER PERSON

AUGUST 14TH - IRON CHEF COMPETITION ON THE STONINGTON FISH PIER

POSSIBLE CATEGORIES DEPENDING ON YOU!
SIGN UP FOR YOUR TEAM!
MAXIMUM OF FOUR TEAMS FOR EACH ROUND
ROUND ONE:
FISHING FAMILIES;
ROUND TWO;
ISLAND NON-PROFITS:
ROUND THREE: LOCAL RESTAURANTS
JUDGES WILL INCLUDE MARK BITTMAN, CHELLIE PINGREE AND SANDY OLIVER PLUS LOCAL FOODIES

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Although a turkey is the most important traditional focus at the Thanksgiving table, October and November are also the season for eating freshly slaughtered pigs, especially important here on the island where more and more people are starting to have their own pigs, or are dividing up and sharing a pig among friends. Adding some of that bounty to your Thanksgiving meal can open up all kinds of new opportunities to share with friends and family.

On Tuesday, November 23rd, The Island Culinary and Ecological Center is planning its first pig roast and "nose to tail" demonstration on how to use parts of the pig which are often discarded, but are really great to eat. The meat from local pigs is usually butchered in Bangor and sent back in packaged form, consisting mostly of the usual cuts such as chops, roasts, and ground pork. Many people have no idea what to do with the rest. This year, ICEC wants to give local pig lovers a taste of some new ways to prepare and eat their pork as a preview to a more extensive "pig program" planned for next fall.

The dishes which Kris Burrin, Executive Chef at the Seasons, will be demonstrating while the pig is roasting outdoors can make an interesting addition to your usual Thanksgiving meal.The roast will begin early in the morning, and will be ready by six p.m. to eat or take home. While the pig is roasting, Kris will conduct a hands on demonstration on how to make "rillettes", a traditional French pork spread which is usually slathered over French bread. Preserved under a thin cap of fat in glass jars, as it was in the days before refrigeration, rillettes can remain in the refrigerator for a long time . What better way to show our respect for old traditions which can still be meaningful today. Kris will also do a "head cheese" demo in which the head of the pig is boiled for most of a day, the meat and gelatin separated from the bones , chilled and made into a "loaf" which is then sliced and served together with a variety of sauces. Kris is a great fan of "nose to tail" and loved cooking things like stuffed trotters in England. He is looking forward to sharing his expertise with the island community.

After the demonstrations, participants will be invited to share the pig roast and sample the rillettes and head cheese together with bread, applesauce, and cider. For the adventurous, there will be a slow roasted pig's head to sample. Jars of rillettes will also be for sale to take home, as well as Michael Ruhlmann's highly regarded recent book "Charcuterie". Cost for the pig roast, demonstration, tasting and enough to take home for Thanksgiving is $10.00 per person.

Please make your reservations by Tuesday, November 16th, since we can only accommodate forty people for the roast and demo, which will take place indoors and outside at the Deer Isle Stonington Elementary School.

To reserve email events@edibleisland.org. Give your name, address, telephone and the number of people who would like to attend and we will save you a spot.

This year, in August, ICEC celebrated its first birthday on the Stonington Fish Pier on Fishermen's Day when local young people Chelsea Ciomei, Peter Buxton and Isaac Dworsky showed off their culinary skills at ICEC's demonstration booth. Using all local ingredients, they prepared lobster raviolis, steamer clams stuffed with chanterelle mushrooms and crab rangoon. Visitors to the booth were able to watch the dishes being prepared on the spot, and taste them as well.