We need your topic suggestions for the Great Cooks Radio Podcast

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Permalink Reply by Katherine Aucoin on January 13, 2009 at 1:19pm

A timely topic would be... Tackling the Impossible, Trying to Lose Weight After the Holidays While Food Blogging.

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Permalink Reply by Charles McKeever on January 13, 2009 at 6:43pm

That would work very well. I am writing a review on some mobile software that helps with this. We could definitely do a show on the topic.

Do you have any suggested resources or posts we can refer too?

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Permalink Reply by Mrs.W on January 13, 2009 at 3:07pm

Frugal shopping; frugal cooking (or simply cooking/running a food blog) while sticking to dietary restrictions; using unusual herbs & spices; ethnic cuisine topics with various guest speakers for the cuisine type; diabetic baking - how to make sugar-free low glycemic-index sweets & treats...

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Permalink Reply by Charles McKeever on January 13, 2009 at 6:51pm

That's a good topic too. There's the angle of having a budget and staying within it and then there's the idea of substituting name brand with off brand items.

Is that what you were thinking or did you have something else in mind? Do you have resources in mind for the other topics?

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Permalink Reply by Mrs.W on January 13, 2009 at 9:32pm

Sort of. As foodbloggers we're looked at as experts in the food world. I'll expand on my thoughts. Sorry if this is lengthy!

Frugal Shopping - such a wide topic; it appeals to frugalites and foodies, since many people around the world are entering difficult financial times. Areas to cover include things such as making lists, making menu plans based on what's on sale, a trend back to down-home cooking and meals like grama made, making frozen veg more palatable, using canned produce (ie, canned tomatoes are often better quality, since they were processed at the peak of freshness rather than shipped). You could get guest speakers from the frugal arena or people who are clever. Have you read the reports of famous chefs (I want to say Ripert but I could be wrong) making yummy, yummy dishes from dollar store finds?

Cooking/Running a food blog while sticking to dietary restrictions - sometimes it's difficult to get all this foodie inspiration... I drool over the bread. I pine for the puff pastry. I would love to get into daring bakers. But I'm diabetic with some other dietary restrictions; it requires I be more creative, sometimes buy more expensive ingredients, look to ethnic cuisines for ideas, etc. Resources/possible guest speakers might be Gluten Free Girl or other gluten-free bloggers especially. There are lots of diabetic, sugar-free and south-beach-type foodblogs out there, too. Let me know if you need some other ideas. My blog also tends toward sugar-free low-glycemic-index foods, although I do mix in "regular" recipes as well.

Unusual herbs & spices - a discussion of different products and how to use them. I think a lot of people are interested in expanding their repertoire but don't quite know what to do with that fancy new grinder of grains of paradise, for example. You might contact some spice vendors and have a discussion? I know that The Spice House has a blog--perhaps you could contact someone there for some additional ideas. Personally I'd love to learn about vietnamese cinnamon bark. It sounds fantastic, but I don't quite know what to do with it! Sort of like going to a demo, only a podcast.

Ethnic cooking - again, sort of like attending a food demo, only by podcast. Experts from different food cultures--vietnamese pho (a difficult process, I'd love to hear from someone who really knows how to make it), nigerian specialties or ethiopian cooking, indian, US-southern, US-southwestern, US-california cuisine or "new american", venezuelan, native american traditional foods... you name it!

Diabetic baking - again, anyone from sugar-free/south-beach type blogs could talk about diabetic desserts & baking, as could I. It's not only using sugar substitutes most of the time--many times it's cutting out flour altogether and still finding palatable desserts for special occasions.

Here's another one: how about someone involved with molecular gastronomy? I'd love to listen to someone talk about that! How a home cook can branch into molecular gastronomy simply, without purchasing a lot of specialty equipment.

Hope that gives you some more ideas on possible material.

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Permalink Reply by Charles McKeever on January 14, 2009 at 11:04am

Wowzer! Thanks for the reply. I will read it through on the treadmill and post a response. Thanks a ton for the input and ideas!

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Permalink Reply by Charles McKeever on January 19, 2009 at 8:21am

I talk to Jill about your great suggestions. We will definitely have to do some leg work on this to pull the materials together. Do you think you would be interested in putting something together to be included in the show or maybe we could do a call in and have you on one of the shows? What do you think?

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Permalink Reply by Mrs.W on January 19, 2009 at 8:53am

I'd be happy to help. I sent you a message with my contact info.

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Permalink Reply by Linda on January 13, 2009 at 3:12pm

One thing I have always been hesitant to try is cooking with Tofu. I have had it and it is always good. But I don't know what to do with it myself. How about a segment on Cooking with Tofu.
Linda at http://www.imaweekendcook.blogspot.com

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Permalink Reply by Charles McKeever on January 13, 2009 at 6:57pm

Very intreging. Tofu is one of those mystery foods to me. It's like rice cakes. I know it's on the shelf but it's never made it into the basket.

Do you have any suggestions for a good primer on tofu?

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