February 8, 2013 —
Leave it to two food writers to turn the 60-Second Stir-Fry into the 60-Minute Slow-Cook! There's no such thing as a lightning round when I'm talking to Smitten Kitchen blogger Deb Perelman and The New York Times' Melissa Clark.
Melissa almost elbows me out of the interrogator role when Deb mentions that the fish spatula is her favorite kitchen tool.
"I don't know what that is," she mused. (I didn't either. Take a look, one is pictured below.) Then Clark started talking about offset spatulas. The Stir Fry timer was running. I was the one breaking into a sweat, and I wasn't even on the hot seat!
Clark continued to deftly elude my efforts at control. My query about a food trend they'd like to see run its course got nowhere with her. "I'm liking all the food trends right now!" she gushed. (Yet another thing I didn't know: Pig's feet are hot to trot.)
Perelman must have colored inside the lines when she was a girl, because she did not stray from the question. "Quinoa," she said in a somewhat sheepish voice. "It doesn't have to be in everything."
"Oh, I love quinoa!" chimed in Clark, as priceless seconds ticked by.
Food habits they'd like to kick? For Deb, it's carbs, but she doesn't really mean it. For Melissa, it's her husband's smoothies, and yes, she means it. Ah, there's a food trend she'd probably like to see poured down the drain.
After all their charming asides and explanations and exclamations, Melissa Clark's and Deb Perelman's 60-Second Stir Fry stopped simmering after a minute and a half. It's still tasty and worth consuming, like everything they write about.
Take a look, and tell me what food habit you'd most like to kick.